KELLY  OF 
THE  FOREIGN  LEGION 


RUSSELL  A.  KELLY 


KELLY 

OF 
THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

LETTERS   OF   LEGIONNAIRE 
RUSSELL   A.  KELLY 


TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED  AN  HISTORICAL  SKETCH 
OF  THE  FOREIGN  LEGION 


NEW  YORK 
MITCHELL  KENNERLEY 

1917 


COPYRIGHT     1917    BY 
MITCHELL  KENNERLEY 


PRINTED  IN  AMERICA 


Dedicated 

to  the  memory  of  that  intrepid  and  valiant  Frenchman, 
whose  bravery,  love  of  liberty,  generosity,  and  friend- 
ship with  Washington,  made  Americans,  for  all  time, 
his  grateful  and  devoted  admirers — 

LE  MARQUIS  DE  LAFAYETTE 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE  xi 

I.  VOYAGE  TO  BORDEAUX — ENLISTMENT  i 

II.  TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON  13 

III.  OFF  TO  THE  FRONT  33 

IV.  IN  THE  FIRST  LINE  TRENCHES  52 
V.   REMOVED  TO  THE  ARRAS  SECTEUR  78 

VI.   BATTLE  OF  ARTOIS;  AT  LA  TARGETTE 

AND  NEUVILLE  ST.  VAAST  85 

VII.  To  THE  REAR  FOR  RECRUITING  92 

VIII.  SUPPLEMENTARY — BATTLE  OF  ARTOIS 

— SOUCHEZ — HILL  No.  119  104 

IX.  EPILOGUE  120 

X.  LA  LEGION  ETRANGERE  131 


ILLLUSTRATIONS 

Russell  A.  Kelly  Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Official  Postal  Card  for  Use  of  Soldiers  34 

French  Houses  Burned  by  Germans  60 

Kniffin  Yates  Rockwell  68 

John  Earl  Fike  124 


PREFACE 

first  seven  chapters  of  this  book  are 
•••  letters  received  from  Russell  A.  Kelly, 
age  21,  volunteer  in  the  Legion  etrangere. 
The  letters,  many  of  which  were  published  in 
the  New  York  Evening  Sun,  were  sent  to  his 
parents  in  New  York  and  have  been  retained 
in  exactly  their  original  form  except  for  the 
omission  of  strictly  personal  matters. 

The  last  communication  from  him  was  a 
military  post  card  mailed  June,  15th,  1915. 
After  the  severe  engagement  around  Souchez 
on  June  16th  in  which  the  Second  Regiment 
de  Marche  of  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Le- 
gion suffered  severely,  he  was  officially  re- 
corded by  the  French  Minister  of  War  as 
"missing,"  with  the  added  statement  that  his 
name  would  be  carried  on  the  list  of  missing 

xi 


xii  PREFACE 

until  a  search  could  be  made  in  the  internment 
camps  of  Germany. 

Exhaustive  efforts  have  been  made  to  locate 
him.  All  information  that  has  been  obtained 
as  to  his  fate  is  given  in  Chapter  IX. 

When  it  was  learned  in  New  York  that  he 
had  enlisted,  he  was  informed  that  Germany 
had,  prior  to  the  war,  objected  to  the  Foreign 
Legion  as  a  military  body,  and  had  stated  that 
Legionnaires  who  were  not  French  citizens 
would  be  considered  as  non-combatants  and 
not  entitled  to  the  rights  of  the  other  soldiers 
of  the  French  army. 

He  was  accordingly  advised  that  in  the 
event  of  his  capture  to  give  no  information  as 
to  his  citizenship;  but  to  communicate  with 
Ambassador  Gerard.  He  answered  that  he 
would  follow  those  instructions. 

Chapter  2534  of  the  laws  passed  by  Con- 
gress March  2nd,  1907,  makes  the  taking  of 
an  oath  of  allegiance  to  a  foreign  king  or  state 
an  act  of  expatriation  for  an  American  citizen. 

But  as  Russell  did  not  and  was  not  required  to 


PREFACE  Xlll 

take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  France,  he  con- 
tinued, after  enlistment,  to  be  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Acknowledgment  is  made  to  the  New  York 
Evening  Sun  for  permission  to  print  those 
letters  which  appeared  in  that  paper. 

J.  E.  K. 

New  York,  May,  1917. 


KELLY  OF  THE  FOREIGN 
LEGION 


VOYAGE    TO    BORDEAUX — ENLISTMENT 

Bordeaux,  France, 
36  Rue  Notre  Dame, 
Wednesday,  Nov.  25, 1914. 

ON  Election  Day,  Tuesday  November 
3rd,  1914,  we  left  New  York,  from  the 
South  Brooklyn  basin,  on  "the  good  ship" 
Orcadian  with  a  cargo  of  six  hundred  and  fifty 
horses  for  the  use  of  the  French  army.  There 
were  twenty-five  men,  including  my  chum 
Larney  and  myself,  who  had  not  previously 
worked  on  ships  nor  around  horses,  and  eight 
experienced  horsemen.  We  twenty-five  con- 
sisted of  twelve  Englishmen,  seven  Italians, 


KtiLLY    OF   TJird    FOREIGN    LEGION 


two  Greeks,  one  Spaniard,  and  three  Amer- 
icans, the  third  being  a  negro.  The  first  day 
the  ship  was  out  the  English  and  Italians 
started  to  fight,  and  this  divided  the  party  into 
two  messes;  at  every  meal  thereafter  there 
were  hostilities.  The  third  day  out  we  ran  into 
very  rough  weather,  which  continued  during 
the  following  day  :  the  vessel  rolled  and  pitched 
in  a  horrible  fashion,  and  most  of  us  suffered 
severely  from  sea  sickness. 

The  food  furnished  to  us  was  very  poor. 
The  first  nine  meals  consisted  of  Irish  stew, 
and  I  believe  it  was  made  on  the  first  day  and 
thereafter  heated  at  meal  time. 

We  went  en  masse  to  the  chief  steward  and 
demanded  better  food;  there  was  a  change,  but 
it  was  no  better,  it  was  only  different. 

The  horses  were  fed  twice  a  day,  the  first 
time  in  the  morning  from  half  -past  five  to  eight 
o'clock.  We  then  had  breakfast  followed  by 
hoisting  feed  from  the  hold,  cleaning  the  stalls 
and  similar  duties,  and  then  dinner.  At  three 
in  the  afternoon  we  gave  the  horses  their  sec- 


VOYAGE   TO   BORDEAUX  3 

ond  feeding,  which  took  until  nearly  six  o'clock 
when  we  had  supper. 

In  rough  weather  life  on  the  boat  was  fierce. 
Watering  the  horses  as  the  boat  rolled  usually 
resulted  in  much  of  the  water  getting  on  the 
men,  and  the  deck  was  always  wet  and  slip- 
pery. 

A  cabin  meant  to  hold  twelve  seamen  held 
thirty-three  cattlemen,  so  conditions  can  be 
realized.  The  air  was  foul;  in  fact  the  whole 
ship  was  foul.  During  the  last  week  I  slept 
in  the  lowest  deck  on  the  hay.  We  could  not 
eat  the  food  furnished,  and  even  had  it  been 
palatable,  it  lacked  quantity,  so  my  appetite 
was  not  appeased  once  during  the  trip.  I  lost 
about  fifteen  pounds  during  the  voyage.  I 
could  wash  only  twice  and  shave  once  during 
the  trip.  English  warships  convoyed  us  for 
the  entire  voyage,  yet  there  was  much  un- 
easiness among  the  men.  We  lost  eighteen 
horses  en  route. 

On  November  19th  we  were  in  that  part  of 
the  Atlantic  called  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  en- 


4  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

tering  the  broad  Gironde  river  proceeded  up 
it  for  about  thirty  miles  to  Pauillac,  off  which 
we  laid  two  days,  and  then  went  up  the  river 
another  thirty  miles  to  Bordeaux  where  we 
docked  at  seven  in  the  morning  of  Saturday 
November  21st.  It  was  snowing  and  the  city 
did  not  seem  real — it  looked  so  quaint  and 
picturesque. 

At  ten  o'clock  we  were  dressed  and  went 
ashore  and  were  stopped  on  the  wharf  by  a 
Customs  official  who  looked  in  only  one  valise 
and  that  was  for  tobacco  and  matches.  The 
party  then  proceeded  to  a  wine  shop,  where 
some  bought  wine,  that  they  said  was  good,  for 
fifteen  centimes  a  glass.  We  soon  learned 
that  this  was  only  three  cents  of  American 
money. 

We  left  our  hand  baggage  at  this  shop  and 
went  to  the  British  consul,  from  whom  we  re- 
ceived our  discharge.  We  then  returned  for 
the  bags  and  sought  lodgings,  which  we  ob- 
tained on  Rue  Notre  Dame. 

Everything  we  see  in  the  city  is  different 


VOYAGE   TO    BORDEAUX  5 

from  anything  my  chum  Larney  or  I  have  seen 
in  America:  the  sidewalks  and  roadways  are 
very  narrow;  the  buildings  quaint  in  appear- 
ance and  generally  only  two  stories  in  height. 

We  had  a  good  supper  although  the  por- 
tions served  were  small,  but,  as  is  usual,  they 
gave  three  kinds  of  meat  at  the  meal.  Coffee 
was  served  in  a  small  bowl  with  heated  milk, 
there  being  more  milk  than  coffee.  For  des- 
sert nuts  were  served.  The  rooms  were  with- 
out heat,  and  for  light  a  small  torch  was  used. 

On  Sunday  Larney  and  I  with  the  two 
Greeks  from  the  ship,  went  around  town,  one 
of  the  Greeks  being  the  only  member  who 
could  speak  French. 

Monday  morning  the  four  of  us  found  the 
station  for  recruiting  for  the  army  and  made 
application  to  join  the  Foreign  Legion.  The 
officers  were  agreeable  but  evinced  no  desire 
to  urge  us  to  enlist,  and  they  informed  us  of 
an  old  rule  in  the  Legion,  that  an  applicant 
will  not  be  examined  or  accepted  until  the  day 
following  his  application.  So  we  returned 


6  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Tuesday  morning  at  eight  o'clock  and  took 
the  physical  examination,  which  was  very 
thorough  and  the  four  of  us  were  accepted. 

Twenty  other  men  who  meant  to  join  the 
regular  army  were  examined  at  the  same  time, 
six  of  whom  were  rejected,  some  solely  on  ac- 
count of  poor  teeth. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday, 
November  24th,  1914,  we  signed  articles 
which  made  us  soldiers  in  the  Army  of  the 
Republic  of  France,  in  the  division  la  Le- 
gion etrangere,  for  service  during  the  war. 

We  were  not  asked  to  take  any  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  France,  nor  to  renounce  our  al- 
legiance to  the  United  States;  all  that  was 
required  of  us  was  to  be  over  eighteen  years 
of  age  and  to  pass  the  doctor. 

We  were  given  five  francs  (one  dollar)  as 
spending  money,  and  a  railroad  ticket  to 
Lyon,  where  one  of  the  depots  of  the  Foreign 
Legion  is  located.  It  is  to  be  our  training 
station  for  four  or  five  months,  they  say, 
before  we  can  go  to  the  front.  No  escort 


VOYAGE   TO   BORDEAUX  7 

was  furnished  or  effort  made  to  see  that 
we  reported  at  Lyon  and  we  learned  it  was 
the  custom  even  before  the  war  to  trust  re- 
cruits for  the  Legion  to  reach  the  depot  of 
their  own  accord. 

We  had  time  to  take  a  further  look  around 
Bordeaux.  We  met  soldiers  in  large  num- 
bers everywhere,  and  found  they  were  of  the 
same  belief  as  the  people  generally — that  the 
Germans  would  be  defeated  in  two  months. 
All  theatres  were  closed  except  some  moving 
picture  shows,  the  receipts  from  them  were 
given  to  the  Red  Cross  fund. 


Lyon, 

December  2, 1914. 

We  left  Bordeaux  Wednesday  night  at 
nine  o'clock,  riding  second  class.  The  cars 
are  small  and  divided  into  compartments,  each 
holding  eight  persons.  Most  of  the  passen- 
gers were  soldiers  returning  to  the  front.  It 
was  difficult  to  sleep  as  the  train  stopped  every 


8  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

half  hour  and  the  people  getting  off  and  on 
made  considerable  noise. 

Thursday  was  a  clear  day,  and  the  bright 
sunlight  enabled  us  to  enjoy  the  magnificent 
scenery.  The  train  was  climbing  mountains 
and  going  at  a  moderate  pace.  The  construc- 
tion of  this  railroad  was  a  great  engineering 
feat.  One  minute  we  would  be  in  a  tunnel, 
then  suddenly  emerge  onto  a  frail  bridge  over 
a  magnificent  valley. 

Nearly  all  the  land  in  sight  was  under  culti- 
vation, it  being  divided  into  small  plots  of 
about  half  an  acre  each.  These  plots  were  en- 
closed by  stone  walls  three  feet  high  and  two 
feet  thick  and  the  walls  extended  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  see.  The  people  were  all  very 
friendly  but  the  only  one  of  our  party  who 
could  talk  to  them  was  our  Greek  interpreter. 

From  our  hotel  in  Bordeaux  we  brought  a 
roast  chicken,  bread  and  wine,  which  we  ate 
at  noon.  The  people  here  roast  a  chicken 
with  its  head  on.  We  took  the  wine  not  be- 
cause we  were  wine  drinkers,  but  because  the 


VOYAGE    TO   BORDEAUX  9 

landlord  put  it  in  as  a  regular  part  of  every 
lunch. 

This  is  a  great  country  for  churches;  from 
the  car  window  we  saw  many  that  were  nearly 
as  imposing  as  cathedrals,  and  some  had  only 
ten  or  fifteen  cottages  around  them. 

We  arrived  at  Lyon  at  one  in  the  afternoon 
and  went  direct  to  the  depot  or  station  of  the 
Legion. 

We  were  temporarily  assigned  to  the  Fifth 
company  of  the  Premier  or  First  regiment. 
Our  barrack  was  a  school  house  before  the 
war.  We  were  located  in  a  room  about 
twenty  feet  wide  and  of  the  same  length,  the 
ceiling  being  about  ten  feet  high.  Maps  and 
cards  were  still  on  the  walls,  and  the  desks 
and  benches  were  piled  in  a  corner. 

When  we  arrived  there  were  eight  men  in 
the  room  and  newcomers  continued  to  come 
until  we  had  twenty-five  men  in  the  room. 
Each  man  was  given  a  straw  mattress,  a  pil- 
low and  two  blankets. 

We  found  nearly  every  nationality  repre- 


10  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

sented  in  this  Foreign  Legion;  there  were, 
however,  no  Chinese  nor  Japanese.  , 

They  have  a  system,  when  furnishing  the 
men's  outfit,  that  enables  a  man  to  realize 
some  money.  Each  man  is  given  a  complete 
outfit  but  should  he  have  some  articles  of 
clothing  that  could  be  substituted  for  the  mili- 
tary ones  he  is  allowed  a  fair  price  for  them 
and  does  not  get  equivalent  articles  from  the 
quartermaster.  For  example,  I  had  two  win- 
ter union  suits  and  a  heavy  sweater  for  which 
I  received  seventeen  francs  (three  dollars  and 
thirty-five  cents)  and  got  no  underclothes  from 
the  army.  One  man  received  ninety  francs 
(seventeen  dollars  and  a  half)  that  way. 

We  got  a  complete  outfit  and  Larney  and 
I  had  our  pictures  taken.  I  enclose  one  of 
mine. 

By  looking  closely  at  the  cap  in  the  picture 
it  will  be  seen  that  it  has  a  cover  on  it.  The 
cap  is  made  of  red  cloth,  but  that  color  being 
too  conspicuous  a  blue  linen  cover  is  worn  over 
it.  The  coat  is  blue  and  reaches  to  the  knees ; 


VOYAGE   TO   BORDEAUX  11 

it  is  buttoned  back  to  allow  free  movement. 
The  trousers  are  bright  red,  but  were  found  to 
be  such  a  good  target  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  that  a  sort  of  blue  overall  is  issued  at  the 
front  to  hide  the  red  trousers.  Patent  leather 
puttees  are  generally  worn,  but  in  this  photo 
I  wear  Douglas  shoes.  The  regulation  ones 
are  very  heavy;  by  actual  count  each  shoe  has 
one  hundred  and  sixty-two  hobs  in  the  sole, 
which  is  half  an  inch  thick.  I  never  thought 
I  would  put  my  feet  into  things  like  them, 
much  less  wear  them. 

A  broad  band  will  be  noticed  around  my 
waist.  This  is  of  blue  linen  and  is  fifteen  feet 
long.  It  is  the  positive  insignia  of  our  Legion, 
and  is  not  worn  by  any  other  division  of  the 
French  army.  A  broad  leather  belt  with  a 
brass  buckle  supports  the  bayonet,  the  hilt  of 
which  is  visible  at  my  left  side.  This  is  a 
murderous  weapon,  and  I  do  not  blame  the 
Germans  for  being  afraid  of  it.  It  is  about 
a  foot  and  nine  inches  long  and  comes  to  a 
needle  point.  It  has  four  grooves,  and  each 


12  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

edge  is  a  quarter  inch  deep  and  one-eighth 
inch  wide  at  the  hilt.  It  is  half  an  in,ch  in 
diameter  at  the  hilt.  The  gun  has  an  eight 
shell  chamber  and  one  shell  in  the  barrel;  it 
is  six  inches  longer  than  the  present  U.  S. 
army  gun.  With  bayonet  attached  it  is  a 
formidable  weapon.  This  is  our  dress  uni- 
form, the  one  we  appear  in  when  on  the  street. 
The  fatigue  uniform  has  a  cap  or  beret  which 
is  comfortable  and  handy,  a  short  blouse,  dark 
blue,  no  coat,  the  same  pants  and  puttees. 
The  blue  band  insignia  we  always  wear. 


II 

TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON 

Lyon, 
December  12,  1914. 

REVEILLE  sounds  at  half-past  five  in 
the  morning;  we  are  then  served  with 
coffee,  followed  by  drill  till  half -past  ten  when 
we  have  dinner,  consisting  of  rich  soup,  meat, 
potatoes,  etc.  We  get  no  sweets  whatsoever. 
After  dinner  we  peel  potatoes,  and  after  that 
drill  till  half -past  four,  at  which  time  we  have 
supper,  there  being  the  same  bill  of  fare  as 
dinner.  We  are  free  from  five-thirty  until 
nine,  when  we  have  inspection  and  then  sleep. 
It  is  hard  to  get  accustomed  to  the  drill  as  the 
commands  are  in  French,  and  scarcely  any  of 
the  soldiers  understand  that  language,  even 
slightly. 

Last  Sunday  we  walked  through  the  city 

13 


14  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

in  the  company  of  an  Englishman  who  came 
from  Ceylon  to  enlist.  He  is  a  "younger 
son"  and  spends  money  lavishly  when  he  has 
it.  At  present  he  is  not  in  funds. 

To  the  east  of  Lyon  is  a  range  of  moun- 
tains, and  on  one  of  the  highest  mountains  is 
a  church.  We  visited  it  while  military  service 
was  being  held  and  the  edifice  was  crowded. 
It  has  the  handsomest  and  most  costly  interior 
decorations  of  any  church  I  have  ever  seen. 
It  is  called  the  Chapelle  de  Notre  Dame  de 
Fourviere. 

The  view  from  the  heights  was  magnificent. 
Lyon  is  in  a  valley  and  has  two  rivers  running 
through  it  very  swiftly.  They  say  that  Mt. 
Blanc,  in  Switzerland,  can  be  seen  from  this 
church  on  a  clear  day.  We  saw  many  snow- 
capped mountains  in  the  distance,  but  as  the 
day  was  overcast  we  could  not  see  the  main 
attraction. 

Last  Monday  we  were  transferred  to  the 
2nd  company  of  the  same  First  Regiment 
etrangere.  This  is  to  be  our  permanent  com- 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      15 

pany  and  it  is  in  another  barracks.  The  day 
before  we  reached  Lyon  two  Americans  ar- 
rived from  La  Rochelle  where  they  had  en- 
listed. One  had  seen  service  in  the  Philip- 
pines, in  the  cavalry,  while  the  other  had 
served  in  the  navy.  So  we  were  not  so  lonely 
after  all. 

When  we  reached  the  new  barracks  we 
found  four  more  Americans,  one  of  whom  had 
been  in  the  army,  another  in  the  navy;  one 
was  a  doctor  and  the  other  a  lawyer.  The 
doctor  is  forty-nine  years  old;  he  came  over 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  join  the  Red 
Cross.  The  ex-army  man  fought  in  the  in- 
surrection in  Chili,  and  served  in  Mexico  under 
Villa  and  he  works  a  machine  gun.  He  has 
since  left  us  for  the  front. 

These  new  barracks  are  located  in  a  new 
school  house,  not  quite  completed.  Our  room 
is  about  ninety  feet  long  and  thirty  feet  wide ; 
it  has  a  row  of  eight  windows  on  each  side, 
and  accommodates  one  hundred  men. 

At  intervals  of  about  a  week  volunteers  who 


16  KELLY   OF  THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

desire  to  go  to  the  front  are  called  for  from 
the  different  companies.  Of  course  we  volun- 
teered, but  were  refused  because  there  is  a 
severe  form  of  typhoid  in  the  trenches  which, 
it  is  said,  kills  a  man  in  four  hours.  On  this 
account  nobody  is  allowed  to  go  until  he  has 
been  inoculated  four  times;  we  had  not  been 
inoculated  at  all.  The  volunteers  are  put  in 
a  special  company  and  drilled  separately. 
Larney  and  I  with  the  three  other  Americans 
(the  doctor  not  included)  are  in  this  company. 

This  Legion  is  the  most  cosmopolitan  or- 
ganization in  the  world.  In  one  corner  of  the 
room  you  will  hear  Greek  spoken,  the  next 
group  will  be  speaking  Spanish,  then  German 
spoken  by  the  Swiss,  Polish  from  another  cor- 
ner and  English  from  our  crowd. 

I  saw  a  fight  through  interpreters.  A 
Greek  got  into  an  unintelligible  argument 
with  a  Pole  and  as  neither  could  speak  the 
other's  language  nor  "parly"  French,  their 
fellow  countrymen  were  called,  and  they  be- 
ing slightly  acquainted  with  French,  that  was 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      17 

the  language  resorted  to.  When  all  arrange- 
ments were  completed  the  combatants  pro- 
ceeded to  pommel  each  other,  and  before  long 
the  interpreters  were  also  engaged,  and  it  was 
a  very  lively  party  when  the  officers  arrived. 
There  are  many  such  happenings  and  they 
afford  much  amusement. 

We  have  had  many  sham  battles  and  con- 
siderable rifle  practice.  I  now,  five  weeks 
after  reaching  barracks,  make  an  average  of 
four  hits  out  of  eight  at  a  target  of  a  man,  life 
size,  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  meters  (298 
yards).  They  call  that  fair  shooting  for  the 
time  in  practice. 

The  manual  of  arms  is  very  different  from 
that  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  but 
the  training  I  received  there  comes  in  handy. 
I  cannot  understand  the  commands  but  gen- 
erally know  what  to  expect. 

All  the  men  in  our  section  have  the  same  lim- 
ited knowledge  of  French,  but  they  are  able 
to  understand  the  orders.  The  weather  is 
warm;  an  overcoat  is  only  necessary  at  night. 


18  KELLY   OF   THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 

Lyon, 
January  17,  1915. 

I  miss  sweets  very  much.  Many  times  I 
have  longed  for  a  piece  of  pie,  in  fact  for  a 
whole  pie,  but  they  do  not  know  what  pie  is 
over  here.  The  pastry  in  the  shops  is  wonder- 
fully light  but  ridiculously  expensive,  and  our 
pay  of  one  cent  a  day  does  not  permit  invest- 
ing in  it.  Still  we  have  indulged  several  times, 
but  it  seemed  like  eating  samples.  I  certainly 
miss  the  sweets. 

I  also  missed  the  Thanksgiving  Day  dinner ; 
we  had  nothing  extra  that  day,  so  while  eating 
mine  I  thought  of  the  folks  at  home  and  the 
good  things  they  were  enjoying.  But  I  missed 
the  Christmas  dinner  most;  we  received  no  ex- 
tra course  here,  so  I  contented  myself  with 
philosophizing,  and  speculating  on  the  next 
Christmas  dinner.  Larney  said  he  will  have 
his  in  Berlin,  but  I  prefer  mine  at  H  O  M  E. 

We  had  the  first  fall  of  snow  in  Lyon  this 
morning.  It  lasted  about  two  minutes.  In- 
stead of  cold  and  snow  they  have  a  rainy 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      19 

winter.  There  have  not  been  two  successive 
days  without  showers  since  I  arrived  in 
France. 

Trolley  cars,  with  overhead  wires,  are  used 
in  Lyon  and  they  are  run  with  a  trailer.  There 
are  many  kinds;  some  are  divided  into  three 
compartments,  one-third  of  the  car  being  de- 
voted to  standing  room,  and  the  other  two 
divisions  being  for  first  and  second  classes.  I 
have  seen  a  car  pass  with  the  second  class 
packed  as  closely  as  they  are  in  the  New  York 
Subway,  while  the  first  class  was  empty.  The 
first  class  fare  is  double  that  of  the  second. 

The  car  is  started  by  a  signal  from  a  small 
horn,  and  the  conductor  gives  a  receipt  as  he 
collects  the  fare.  Double  deck  trolleys  have 
been  in  use  here  for  years. 

I  tried  to  learn  the  location  at  the  front  of 
the  First  Regiment  etrangere,  but  nobody 
knows.  There  were  six  Americans  here  and 
two  have  left  for  the  front.  We  received  let- 
ters from  them  but  they  were  not  allowed  to 
give  their  location  and  the  envelopes  had  a 


20  KELLY  OF  THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

number  in  place  of  the  name  of  the  post  office. 
Post  offices  near  the  front  are  no  longer 
named ;  they  are  numbered,  and  not  in  consecu- 
tive order,  for  Secteur  Postal  6  adjoins  109. 
Soldier's  letters  are  sent  free  in  France.  Let- 
ters of  prisoners  of  war  are  forwarded  free 
(when  they  are  forwarded)  through  all  coun- 
tries, including  the  neutrals  who  are  in  the 
postal  union. 

We  learned  that  it  is  very  cold  where  the 
First  Regiment  is  and  that  an  Italian  who  left 
here  with  the  two  Americans  was  given  eight 
days  in  prison  for  eating  his  reserve  rations. 

A  shipment  of  volunteers  from  our  com- 
pany left  for  the  front  three  weeks  ago  and 
last  week  we  were  assembled  and  a  report  read 
stating  that  one  of  the  men  (giving  his  name) 
was  executed,  having  been  caught  in  the  act  of 
dewrtfeg.  Considering  these  incidents,  they 
must  be  near  the  front. 

We  called  at  the  American  Consulate  and 
found  the  Vice  Consul  in  charge.  He  had 
served  in  the  Philippines  during  the  war.  He 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      21 

gave  us  New  York  newspapers  and  treated  us 
with  great  kindness.  While  there  an  Ameri- 
can doctor  came  in,  who  was  disgusted  with 
travelling  facilities.  His  passport  had  his 
photograph  attached.  The  paper  was  nearly 
covered  with  official  stamps  and  he  came  to  the 
Consul  to  get  the  U.  S.  stamp  on  while  there 
was  still  room,  as  every  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry, 
he  said,  was  desirous  of  spoiling  the  paper. 
When  he  saw  Larney  and  I  and  learned  we 
were  from  New  York  he  became  enthusiastic 
and  gave  ten  francs  to  each  of  us.  Another 
American  gentleman  and  his  wife  came  to  the 
barracks  one  evening  with  the  Vice  Consul, 
and  presented  each  of  us  with  a  package  con- 
taining pipe,  cigarettes,  tobacco  and  a  neck 
wrapper.  We  fully  appreciated  their  acts. 
The  gentleman  had  given  his  auto  to  the  Red 
Cross  and  he  drives  it. 

Great  changes  are  taking  place  here.  All 
the  Legionnaries  who  did  not  want  to  fight  the 
Germans  were  shipped  to  Algiers.  Another 
call  for  volunteers  was  made  to  all  the  com- 


22  KELLY  OF  THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

panics.  Those  who  did  not  volunteer  were 
sent  to  Valbonne,  a  town  about  twenty  miles 
off.  There  are  a  great  many  men  there  and 
they  will  remain,  it  is  reported,  until  spring. 

We  cannot  find  out  when  we  leave  for  the 
front,  but  all  of  us  hope  that  it  will  be  soon. 

On  December  31st  I  was  inoculated  for  the 
third  time  against  typhoid;  it  was  the  most 
severe  of  the  four  inoculations.  We  were 
treated  at  three  p.  m.  and  two  hours  after  I 
thought  I  would  die.  I  was  sick  all  of  the 
next  day;  at  first  I  was  troubled  by  a  severe 
headache,  followed  by  chills  and  fever.  The 
fourth  and  last  inoculation  had  no  effect  at  all. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  describe  how  they 
inoculate.  First  the  doctor,  who  is  called  in 
French,  le  mededn,  asks  you  about  the  con- 
dition of  your  throat,  chest  and  bowels.  If 
they  are  O.  K.  he  takes  the  flesh  on  the  shoul- 
der blade  (he  used  my  left  four  times,  the 
right  he  rarely  uses,  and  only  then  toward  the 
finish)  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of 
his  left  hand,  making  a  ridge  of  the  flesh.  The 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      23 

hypodermic  needle  is  forced  into  the  flesh  and 
it  felt  to  me  as  though  it  was  pushed  just  under 
the  skin.  The  fluid  is  then  injected;  it  leaves 
a  small  lump  on  the  blade  until  it  begins  to 
work  on  the  system.  The  quantity  of  serum 
is  gradually  increased  from  the  first  treat- 
ment; I  should  judge  the  first  time  about  a 
tablespoonful  was  used.  Thank  Heaven  it  is 
over.  I  am  ready  to  leave  at  a  moment's  notice 
now. 

Larney  likes  the  life.  He  was  issued  a  good 
overcoat,  but  was  made  to  exchange  it  with  a 
man  going  to  the  front.  He  did  not  like  the 
first  overcoat  but  was  in  raptures  over  the 
exchange. 

When  we  first  reached  Lyon  the  city  was 
alive  with  soldiers  and  it  was  surprising  to 
note  the  great  number  of  different  uniforms 
the  French  army  has.  Of  late,  however,  the 
diminishing  number  of  soldiers  on  the  streets 
is  apparent.  Most  of  the  men  were  sent  to 
Valbonne  or  the  front. 

Everybody  in  Lyon  seems  to  be  working  for 


24  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

the  army.  Contracts  are  given  to  individual 
families  for  uniforms  and  wherever  you  go 
women  and  men  are  seen  carrying  military 
clothing  for  the  soldiers,  while  wagons 
loaded  with  army  clothes  are  very  numerous. 

All  automobile  works  and  machine  shops, 
even  the  smallest,  are  busily  engaged  manu- 
facturing shells  and  the  arsenals  are  working 
two  shifts  of  men,  one  night  and  one  day. 

It  seems  to  me  that  our  army  is  feeling  a 
growing  scarcity  of  rifles,  as  they  are  now 
issuing  to  recruits  an  old  model  rifle  of  fifty 
calibre.  It  is  a  single  shot  affair  of  1867 
model;  rather  awkward  and  crude.  I  have 
seen  large  motor  trucks  returning  from  the 
front  laden  down  with  rifles  picked  up  from 
the  battle  fields.  After  an  overhauling  the 
guns  will  be  used  again. 

I  am  struck  very  forcibly  with  the  great 
economy  of  the  French.  We  did  fatigue  the 
other  day  and  it  consisted  of  washing  or  rather 
scrubbing  with  brush  and  water  the  shoes  re- 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      25 

turned  from  the  front.  I  believe  the  bodies 
are  stripped  of  what  can  be  used  again. 

Wood  is  scarce  over  here ;  it  must  cost  more 
than  concrete.  Concrete  workers  are  very 
expert  and  some  finishing  work  I  saw  by  them 
was  remarkable.  These  workmen,  however, 
would  be  useless  in  the  States,  as  it  takes  them 
too  long  to  construct  a  building. 

Everything  is  saved  to  the  smallest  item: 
even  pig  skins  are  saved  to  grease  with.  They 
are  sold  tied  up  in  neat  little  rolls,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, sold  by  weight.  Everything  is  sold  by 
weight,  even  bread,  which  is  excellent;  no 
bread  in  the  States  can  equal  it. 

Last  Sunday  while  we  were  walking  along 
the  street  a  Frenchman  stopped  and  talked  to 
us  in  English.  He  had  spent  seven  years  in 
London.  He  was  very  pleasant  and  treated 
us  royally  and  escorted  us  back  to  barracks. 
He  invited  us  to  call  on  him. 

A  party  of  four  of  us,  three  Americans  and 
a  Spaniard,  a  few  nights  ago  had  a  night 
march,  with  manoeuvres  to  take  a  fort.  The 


26  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

sergeant  in  command  was  a  Frenchman  with 
no  knowledge  of  any  language  except  the 
French,  so  he  had  great  difficulty  in  explain- 
ing the  tactics  to  us.  When  we  returned  to 
barracks  we  were  given  hot  wine  flavored  with 
lemon;  it  was  good.  To-morrow  morning  we 
start  at  three  o'clock  for  a  long  hike.  They 
believe  in  work  here. 

Lyon, 
January  23,  1915. 

We  continue  drilling  hard;  had  a  twenty- 
five  mile  hike  the  other  day.  Started  at  half- 
past  six  in  the  morning  and  returned  at  six  in 
the  afternoon.  We  cooked  our  dinner  and  it 
certainly  was  fine.  We  had  wine,  meat,  fried 
potatoes,  cheese,  bread  and  coffee.  If  we  get 
such  meals  at  the  front  we  will  be  well  satis- 
fied. 

We  are  having  night  marches  frequently, 
and  always  get  hot  wine  when  we  return. 

Our  section  was  put  on  fire  duty  Sunday 
afternoon.  At  this  duty  we  simply  stack  arms 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      27 

in  the  court-yard  and  wait  around.  In  case 
of  a  fire  in  the  city  we  are  to  kep  the  crowd 
back.  I  think  the  main  object  of  fire  duty  is 
to  keep  the  men  in  barracks. 

When  we  arrived  in  Lyon  I  purchased  an 
English-French  grammar  but  have  had  very 
little  time  to  study  and  the  light  in  the  bar- 
racks at  night  is  too  poor  to  read  by.  But  I 
will  do  the  best  I  can  to  learn  as  much  French 
as  possible. 

The  censor  does  not  seem  to  interfere  with 
our  mail;  none  of  the  letters  I  received  has 
been  tampered  with. 

We  get  all  newspapers,  magazines  and  other 
printed  matter,  without  any  attempt  by  the 
censor  to  examine  them. 

Our  squad  contains  sixteen  men  and  is  di- 
vided into  two  rooms.  In  my  room  are  two 
Americans  (the  Greek- American  sailor  is  with 
me),  two  Italians,  one  German-Swiss,  who  is 
an  excellent  soldier,  two  Spaniards  and  an 
Arab.  One  of  the  Spaniards  has  been  in 
prison  twice  and  is  now  serving  his  third  term, 


28  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

fifteen  days  this  time.  One  of  the  Italians  is 
a  good  soldier;  the  other  is  guilty  of  an  un- 
pardonable sin,  he  snores.  He  wakes  us  every 
night;  last  night  the  sailor  threw  a  shoe  at  him; 
when  it  struck  him  he  woke  with  a  jump,  and 
was  going  to  take  the  sailor's  life,  but  his  music 
(?)  had  so  provoked  us  that  we  were  only 
waiting  for  an  excuse  to  rend  him  limb  from 
limb,  so  he  wisely  got  under  the  covers.  All 
in  all  we  have  a  pretty  good  room. 

It  is  comical  when  it  comes  to  conversation. 
One  day  we  talk  English,  the  next  Spanish, 
the  next  Italian,  but  we  all  agree  Divine  Wis- 
dom was  absent  when  the  Arabic  language  was 
constructed.  When  an  Arab  talks  it  sounds 
as  though  he  was  choking  to  death.  The  lan- 
guage consists  of  spits  and  coughs,  and  at 
regular  intervals  a  sneeze  is  employed  to  give 
the  proper  accent. 

Larney  is  in  the  next  room  with  John  Smith 
(the  fourth  American),  three  Spaniards,  a 
Swiss  corporal,  a  Russian  and  a  Greek.  These 
three  Spaniards  are  brothers  and  inseparable; 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      29 

the  youngest  is  about  thirty-five  years  old. 
They  came  from  Argentina,  having  served  in 
the  artillery  there;  they  are  three  excellent 
men.  They  were  sent  by  the  French  consul  at 
Argentina. 

One  of  the  Greeks  who  came  over  on  the 
steamer  with  us  and  enlisted  at  Bordeaux,  has 
been  reformed  to-day,  January  26th,  and  sent 
back  to  Bordeaux  as  he  has  consumption. 
This  news  completely  nonplussed  me  as  at  the 
physical  examination  he  showed  up  the  best  of 
us.  He  was  well  muscled  and  looked  the  pic- 
ture of  a  trained  athlete.  He  intends  to  go  to 
Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  where  he  has  a  rela- 
tive. He  is  a  good-hearted  chap  and  I  am 
sorry  for  him. 

Lgon, 

January  30, 1915. 

The  number  of  Legionnaries  training  in 
Lyon  has  been  steadily  diminished  until  only 
one  hundred  remain.  There  are  a  great  many 
Frenchmen,  however,  training  in  Lyon.  At 


30  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Valbonne,  twenty  miles  from  here,  there  are 
about  thirty  thousand  troops  training,  among 
them  several  companies  of  the  Legion. 

Nearly  all  the  public  buildings  are  used  as 
hospitals,  while  the  schools  have  been  con- 
verted into  barracks. 

The  people  are  very  pleasant  and  will  go  a 
great  distance  out  of  their  way  to  set  a 
stranger  in  the  right  direction.  They  are  light 
eaters;  bread,  wine  and  cheese  are  their  main- 
stays. A  large  amount  of  chocolate  is  eaten; 
it  is  not  as  good  as  our  milk  chocolate. 

The  moving  picture  shows  in  Lyon  are  free 
for  soldiers.  The  people  like  the  western  cow- 
boy pieces.  I  saw  a  string  of  six  push-carts 
with  advertisements  of  films  in  which  John 
Bunny  appeared. 

We  are  paid  one  sou,  being  the  equivalent 
of  one  cent,  a  day  and  pay-day  every  tenth 
day.  Our  dissipation  on  half  a  franc  can  be 
readily  pictured.  But  we  are  furnished  every- 
thing we  need,  and  there  are  no  charges  here. 

Market  days  are  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  and 


TRAINING  AT  DEPOT  DE  LYON      31 

on  those  days  most  of  the  public  squares  are 
thrown  open  to  the  farmers  who  come  to  town 
w;th  long,  narrow,  two-wheeled  carts,  drawn 
by  everything  from  a  dog  to  a  horse.  Small 
donkeys,  about  three  feet  high,  are  numerous. 
One  frequently  sees  a  dog  harnessed  with  a 
donkey;  I  saw  an  old  woman  teamed  with  a 
dog  drawing  a  fruit  cart.  There  are  some  fine 
draught  horses ;  the  animals  work  tandem,  and 
the  driver  walks. 

Four-wheeled  carts  are  very  scarce.  Auto- 
trucks are  used  for  transportation;  many  are 
of  the  large,  heavy  type,  but  have  steel  tires. 
Pleasure  cars  are  numerous.  The  majority 
have  been  taken  for  military  purposes.  They 
are  all  built  low  and  make  considerable  noise. 

I  have  not  as  yet  seen  many  asphalt  covered 
streets.  Most  of  them  are  paved  with  stone 
blocks,  while  in  a  great  number  of  streets  cobble 
stones  are  used.  Save  in  the  main  streets,  the 
sidewalks  are  narrow.  As  a  rule  the  streets 
are  well  lighted  at  night.  A  great  many  places 
of  business  have  signs  "English  spoken,"  but 


32  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

we  have  not  yet  come  across  one  store  wherein 
English  was  spoken.  The  stores  are  open  on 
Sundays.  Monday  is  the  poorest  business  day 
in  the  week. 

The  children  have  school,  if  soldiers  are  not 
using  the  building,  from  nine  to  noon,  and 
from  two  to  four  p.  m.  School  is  in  session 
Saturdays  but  closed  Thursdays. 


Ill 


OFF  TO  THE  FRONT 

Lyon, 
February  5,  1915. 

AT  last  the  order  we  have  so  anxiously 
awaited  has  come;  we  leave  early  to- 
morrow morning,  February  6th,  for  the  front. 
We  were  given  a  complete  outfit,  which  con- 
sisted of  one  suit  of  underclothes,  two  pairs  of 
socks,  a  white  cotton  sleeping  hat,  two  pairs 
of  shoes,  a  neck  muffler  and  a  jacket  which 
resembles  a  smoking  jacket.  These  jackets 
are  all  the  same  size,  which  is  small,  so  that  a 
big  fellow  has  a  hard  time  getting  into  one. 
There  is  no  warmth  in  them,  so  most  of  the 
fellows  did  not  bother  to  pack  them.  I  left 
mine  with  the  underclothes  in  Lyon,  not  hav- 
ing room  in  the  sack  for  them.  We  got  blue 
overalls  to  go  over  the  red  pants.  We  also  got 

33 


34  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

a  pair  of  mittens,  but  they  are  not  much  good. 

We  were  given  a  loaf  of  bread,  one  can  of 
sardines,  one  and  a  half  cans  of  fish  paste,  a 
chunk  of  cheese  and  some  chocolate  for  rations. 
As  a  reserve  ration  we  got  two  cans  of  bully 
beef,  hard  tack,  salt,  pepper,  tea,  coffee  and 
sugar. 

We  also  got  one  hundred  and  twenty  rounds 
of  ammunition.  We  packed  a  blanket,  and 
half  of  a  shelter  tent  with  poles.  The  complete 
pack  weighed  nearly  seventy  pounds;  it  was 
very  heavy. 

The  colonel  inspected  us  thoroughly,  and 
we  passed  after  close  scrutiny. 

The  weather  is  mild  and  like  summer. 


Somewhere  in  France, 

February  14,  1915. 

We  left  barracks  Saturday  morning,  Feb- 
ruary 6th,  in  a  pouring  rain,  and  our  train  left 
Lyon  at  ten  o'clock. 

We  arrived  at  Noisy-le-Sec,  which  is  on  the 


Cette  carte  doit  Stre  remise  au  vaguemestre.  RIEN  ne  doit 
y  etre  ajoute,  excepte"  la  date  et  la  signature  de  I'expSditeur; 
les  phrases  inutiles  pen  vent  etre  biffees.  Si  quelque  chose  y 
ttait  ajoute,  cette  carte  ne  serait  pas  transmise. 


Je  vais  bien. 

.  (    blesse   )  et  suis  en  voie  de  gue*rison. 
Je  suis  a  I'b6pital  ] 

(  malade  )  et  j'espere  etre  bienlot  retabli. 

{lettre. 
lelegramme. 
patjuet. 

dernierement 


Je  n'ai  recu  aucune  nouvelle  de  vous  , 

depuis  longtemps. 

Lettre  suit  ^  la  premiere  occasion. 
Date  (sans  indication  tforigine) 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  35 

eastern  outskirts  of  Paris  and  about  two  hun- 
dred miles  north  of  Lyon,  at  ten  o'clock  Sun- 
day morning.  We  remained  until  ten  o'clock 
in  the  evening  and  then  proceeded  to  our  rail- 
road destination  which  was  about  seventy 
miles  to  the  northeast  of  Paris,  and  from  there 
we  had  about  twenty  kilometres  (twelve  and  a 
half  miles )  to  march  to  this  town  where  we  are 
now  located. 

Before  reaching  Noisy-le-Sec  we  passed  a 
trainload  of  soldiers  from  India.  It  was  a 
husky  outfit. 

There  was  a  complete  Company  of  us,  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty.  When  we  reached  here 
our  Section  was  located  in  the  loft  of  a  barn. 
It  was  cold  in  our  quarters  as  we  had  no  stove 
and  the  weather  was  cold  and  rainy. 

Upon  reaching  this  place,  the  reserve  ra- 
tions given  to  us  at  Lyons  were  collected. 

We  are  all  well,  and  well  treated  and  fed. 
We  have  coffee  three  times  a  day;  wine  once. 

We  were  divided  according  to  nationalities. 
Our  Section  contained,  besides  Americans, 


36  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

Belgians,  Swedes,  Roumanians,  Italians, 
English  and  a  pure-blooded  Egyptian,  who  is 
very  dark. 

This  town  is  the  quaintest  place  I  have  seen ; 
it  has  no  sidewalks,  and  there  was  no  idea  of 
regularity  when  it  was  laid  out.  There  are 
only  about  six  stores,  and  I  should  judge  the 
place  contains  about  three  hundred  people. 
The  butcher  comes  through  here  twice  a  week 
with  his  stock  of  trade  in  a  wagon.  The  prin- 
cipal industry  around  here  is  grape  growing; 
farming  is  a  side  issue. 

A  short  distance  from  the  railroad  station 
there  is  a  small  river  very  near  the  canal.  Over 
the  canal  were  once  two  bridges  now  both  de- 
stroyed, so  we  marched  over  temporary  ones. 
This  was  the  first  sign  of  destruction  I  have 
seen  since  I  reached  France.  They  say  the 
French  destroyed  these  bridges. 

We  drill  here  and  the  Colonel  manoeuvred 
us  the  other  day ;  he  was  well  satisfied  with  us. 
There  is  a  high  mountain  range  between  us 
and  the  firing  line  and  from  sunrise  until  night 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  37 

we  can  hear  the  rumble  of  cannon;  it  sounds 
like  distant  thunder. 

The  two  Americans  who  left  us  in  Lyon 
have  spent  three  weeks  in  the  trenches.  We 
met  them  here  during  their  rest  which  lasts 
eight  days.  They  have  returned  to  the 
trenches.  The  loss  of  life  in  the  trenches  has 
been  reduced  to  a  minimum.  There  is  a  con- 
stant rifle  and  cannon  fire,  but  little  damage  is 
done  while  the  men  remain  in  the  trenches. 

I  miss  all  of  my  folks  and  often  think  of 
New  York.  I  am  carrying  a  talisman  in  the 
form  of  a  Yale  key  which  belongs  to  the  front 
door  of  our  apartment.  I  have  become  at- 
tached to  it  and  would  feel  its  loss  keenly.  On 
the  brace  supporting  the  teeth  is  the  word 
"Security."  A  person  with  a  lively  imagina- 
tion might  find  some  hidden  meaning  in  this. 

Our  sailor  Pavelka  formerly  entertained  us 
every  night  with  tales  of  his  trip  on  the  good 
ship  Dirigo  from  Seattle  to  England  via  Cape 
Horn.  Jack  London  made  the  same  voyage 
on  its  previous  trip.  It  took  our  sailor  one 


38  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

hundred  arid  fifty-nine  days  to  make  the  trip. 
After  supper  when  stories  are  being  ex- 
changed he  usually  starts  with,  "Now,  fellows, 

when  I  was  on  the  Dirigo  off "  He  only 

gets  that  far  now,  because,  like  most  sailors, 
he  is  very  voluble  and  his  tales  of  the  sea  have 
become  monotonous.  However,  we  are  a  very 
congenial  quartette  and  get  along  well  to- 
gether. 

Dad  says  he  has  a  complete  map  of  France, 
giving  small  villages,  but  we  are  not  allowed 
to  tell  our  location. 

Dad  was  always  good  at  puzzles:  does  he 
remember  this  one? 


Boston 

Orleans 

Utopia 

Zion 

Yapank 


Does  he  get  me  ?  * 


We  take  long  marches.    The  roads  are  ex- 
cellent and  have  a  complete  system  of  direc- 

*  The  name  of  the  place  indicated  by  this  puzzle  is, 
Bouzy. 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  39 

tion  signs.  Just  after  we  started  on  one  of 
these  hikes  I  saw  a  sign  reading  "Rheims  24 
Kilometres."  As  a  kilometre  is  five-eighths 
of  a  mile,  this  was  the  equivalent  of  fifteen 
miles. 

Somewhere  in  France  (Eouzy), 

February  28,  1915. 

Things  are  about  the  same  here ;  the  weather 
is  mild  and  we  are  having  less  rain.  Plough- 
ing is  almost  finished  and  planting  will  soon 
begin.  From  the  outskirts  of  this  place  to  the 
summit  of  the  mountain  (about  three  miles) 
the  ground  rises  in  a  gentle  slope  which  is  com- 
pletely covered  by  vineyards.  It  is  a  great 
wine  country  and  from  the  heights  a  wonder- 
ful view  is  obtained  of  this  extensive  and  fertile 
valley. 

If  Mr.  Shortt's  son  is  anxious  to  join  the 
war,  he  can  do  so  easily.  I  would  advise  him 
to  hurry  up ;  by  that  I  do  not  mean  that  the 
war  will  soon  be  over ;  I  know  absolutely  noth- 
ing about  that.  If  he  is  not  ready  to  secure 


40  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

passage  immediately,  he  can  slip  over  on  a 
horse  boat,  as  I  learn  they  are  still  importing 
horses. 

It  is  a  matter  of  choice  which  Regiment  he 
joins,  the  First  or  Second.  The  Second  con- 
tains the  most  Americans  and  it  recruits 
through  Paris;  my  Regiment  recruits  through 
the  southern  ports. 

I  would  strongly  advise  him  to  lose  no  time, 
but  sail  immediately.  It  makes  no  difference 
whether  he  knows  French  or  not.  I  have  often 
told  you  of  the  great  percentage  here  who  do 
not  know  the  language.  Let  him  bring  as 
much  money  as  he  cares  to,  because  one  can- 
not do  or  see  much  on  the  salary  they  pay  here 
of  one  cent  a  day.  Former  military  training 
is  not  necessary,  but  on  the  other  hand  if  he 
has  any  glaring  physical  defects,  he  will  not  be 
accepted.  I  was  surprised  at  the  rigidity  with 
which  the  examination  was  conducted. 

He  should  bring  two  suits  of  good  woollen 
underclothes  and  about  half  a  dozen  pairs  of 
thick  woollen  socks.  If  he  is  going  to  bring  a 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  41 

shaving  set  it  should  be  as  small  and  compact 
as  possible.  His  comb  and  brush  should  be 
small  and  he  should  bring  a  small  mirror.  He 
should  not  bring  many  other  clothes  as  they 
will  be  useless  when  he  gets  into  a  uniform. 
The  army  does  not  furnish  a  storeroom,  so  I 
put  mine  in  the  Municipal  Pawn  Shop  in 
Lyon.  They  allow  a  very  small  loan,  but  it  is 
conducted  by  the  government  and  is  used  by 
many  for  storage  of  silver  and  other  valuables. 
Would  advise  him  to  bring  a  tooth  brush  in 
some  kind  of  a  stiff  cover  to  protect  the 
bristles. 

Above  all,  impress  him  that  he  is  not  going 
to  be  a  tourist.  He  carries  everything  on  his 
back  and  believe  me,  after  an  entire  day  of 
hiking,  every  ounce  counts.  The  complete 
pack  with  cartridges,  rations,  etc.,  weighs 
nearly  seventy  pounds,  so  there  is  absolutely 
no  room  for  junk.  I  would  advise  him  to 
bring  some  sort  of  a  leather  portfolio  (not  too 
big)  to  fit  into  his  inside  coat  pocket  to  carry 
personal  papers,  etc.  He  need  not  worry 


42  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

about  his  outfit  of  clothes;  the  Army  attends 
to  that.  Show  him  in  a  philosophical  way  that 
he  had  better  come.  He  has  a  leave  from  col- 
lege, so  he  cannot  lose  anything  by  coming. 
On  the  other  hand  he  will  gain  a  lot  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  country,  etc.,  and  at  his  age  it 
should  almost  be  compulsory.  I  tell  you 
candidly,  if  I  was  in  his  shoes  I  would  get 
over  here  if  I  had  to  ship  on  a  cattle  boat. 
Well,  here's  luck  to  him  and  I  hope  to  see  him 
soon.* 

Somewhere  in  France  (Bouzy), 

March  4,  1915. 

I  received  the  army  hand-book  to-day. 
These  books  are  given  to  each  soldier  and  con- 
tain an  identification,  list  of  crimes,  penalties, 

*  The  young  man  referred  to  is  Allan  Shortt,  son  of 
Hon.  William  Allaire  Shortt  of  Staten  Island,,  New 
York.  He  subsequently  joined  the  Fifty-ninth  Battal- 
ion, Canadians,  was  attached  to  the  machine  gun  sec- 
tion, and  became  a  lieutenant.  He  was  missing  follow- 
ing an  engagement  December  10th,  1916,  on  the  front 
in  France:  he  is  now  a  prisoner. 


OFF   TO   THE    FRONT 


etc.,  and  information  about  the  bearer.  In 
case  anything  should  happen  to  me,  I  give  the 
following  information  from  the  book.  It  will 
simplify  the  searching  of  my  records. 


RUSSELL    KELLY 


Ne  le— 13  Juin  1893. 
a-  New  York. 

Canton  d-    ' 
Departement      d-      New 

York. 

Residant  a-  Bordeaux. 
Departement  d-  Gironde. 
Profession  d-  Sans. 
Fils  de- 
etde- 


Domicilies  a- 
Canton  d- 
Departement  d- 


Sans. 


Signalement. 

Cheveux- 

Blonde. 

W 

H 

Yeux- 

gris  bleu. 

> 

Front- 

t  H 

Nez- 

rectiligne. 

O 
i—  i 

<j 

Visage- 

ovale. 

^s 
M 

Poids- 

60  Kilos. 

t"1 

Taille-  1 

mtr-75  cen- 

timetres 

Ou  Engage,,  Volontaire;  duree  guerre,  le  24  n'bre 
a  Bordeaux,  departement  de  Gironde. 

Numero  de  la  Liste  Matricule-997. 


KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 


Translation. 
RUSSELL   KELLY. 


Born  the  13  June  1893. 
at  New  York. 

County  of    " 

Department  of  New  York. 
Resident  at  Bordeaux. 
Department  of  Gironde. 
Profession  of — without. 
Son  of 
and  of 

Dwelling  at,  without. 
County  of 
Department  of  " 


CO 

0 
O 

Description. 
Hair                    Blonde 

> 

Eyes 

gray-blue 

^ 

Forehead 

H 

Nose 

straight 

,_J3 

Face 

oval 

Weight     132%  pounds 
Height    5  feet  9  inches 


Where  engaged;  volunteer;  duration  of  the  war,  24  No- 
vember 1914,  at  Bordeaux,  department  of  Gironde. 
Number  on  recruiting  list — 997. 

A  small  aluminum  tag  is  given  us.  I  wear 
mine  on  my  left  wrist  fastened  by  the  mess- 
can  chain.  It  is  inscribed  as  follows : 


Russell  Kelly 
EV1914 


Bordeaux 
LM997 


Front  side 


Reverse  side 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  45 

The  other  day  the  Colonel  inspected  us  and 
grouped  us  according  to  nationalities:  there 
were  eighteen  groups.  We  were  lined  up  and 
the  Colonel  was  giving  instructions  when  an 
aeroplane  appeared,  so  we  promptly  sought 
shelter.  We  all  watch  for  an  aeroplane  and 
when  one  comes  we  generally  are  marched  to 
quarters.  Quite  a  number  of  'planes  are  ac- 
tive but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  to  which 
nation  they  belong.  No  chance  is  taken,  how- 
ever, and  we  quickly  get  under  cover.  It  fre- 
quently happens  that  the  sound  of  the  motor 
is  heard  before  the  'plane  is  located.  Last 
Sunday  night  heavy  canonading  was  heard. 
It  continued  throughout  the  night,  which  was 
remarkably  moonlight,  and  kept  us  awake  the 
major  part  of  the  time.  It  must  have  been  a 
big  battle;  I  never  heard  its  equal  before. 

When  small  detachments  are  shipped  from 
here  to  join  their  battalions  in  the  trenches 
there  is  a  great  display  of  joyous  feeling  shown 
by  the  men.  They  yell,  sing,  dance  and  rough- 
house  generally.  One  would  imagine  that 


46  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

they  are  going  to  a  festival.  The  New  York 
papers  do  not  exaggerate  when  they  say  this 
Legion  is  a  fighting  crowd.  There  are  just 
enough  of  each  nationality  so  that  one  coun- 
try fights  another.  There  has  been  a  couple  of 
scraps  here  to  date.  The  chief  cook  for  our 
section  was  an  Italian  and  as  he  was  dishing 
up  poor  stuff,  we  four  got  sore  and  told  him 
he  had  better  improve,  but  he  did  not  take  the 
hint.  The  kitchen  is  located  very  near  the  loft 
we  sleep  in,  so  one  day  when  the  meal  was 
particularly  poor  we  reached  out  of  the  door 
and  heaved  the  whole  business  at  him.  It  al- 
most completely  demolished  the  kitchen.  A 
plate  of  meat  and  hot  rice  hit  him  on  the  head 
and  he  jumped  into  the  path  of  a  bowl  of  soup. 
He  was  a  sorry  looking  dago  when  the  ava- 
lanche ceased.  We  are  getting  good  meals 
now.  The  other  day  we  were  nearly  paralyzed 
when  he  had  fried  potatoes  for  us. 

A  detachment  of  about  eighty  Greeks  left 
yesterday  for  the  trenches.  They  were  a  very 
wild  crowd  and  when  they  marched  out  of 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  47 

town  they  carried  two  Greek  flags  and  were 
singing  Greek  songs.  They  had  Greek  offi- 
cers. A  number  of  the  men  had  worked  in  the 
States.  One  was  a  waiter  in  the  Hotel  Knick- 
erbocker, New  York,  but  most  of  them  had 
worked  in  railroad  gangs. 

I  went  to  mass  the  other  Sunday:  it  was 
served  the  same  as  in  the  States.  The  Church 
is  very  old:  the  place  for  the  altar  is  wider  than 
the  pew  space.  The  main  altar  is  set  back 
from  the  others  and  it  only  is  railed  off.  In 
the  space  I  mentioned  as  being  wider  than  the 
pew  section  are  two  rows  of  pews,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  main  aisle.  They  run  at  right 
angles  to  the  altar  and,  I  take  it,  are  reserved 
for  the  elite  of  the  town,  as  they  are  finely 
made  and  comfortable,  not  to  mention  their 
isolation.  The  regular  pews  are  very  uncom- 
fortable, being  straight-backed,  while  the 
board  to  kneel  on  is  very  narrow.  The  pews 
are  placed  close  together  which  cramps  one 
considerably.  The  organ  is  placed  almost 
among  the  rafters.  The  acoustic  properties  of 


48  KELLY    OF   THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 

the  building  are  poor.  The  structure  is  of 
stone,  the  walls  being  very  thick.  Immense 
stone  columns,  placed  at  short  intervals,  sup- 
port the  roof.  On  the  first  column  on  the  left 
hand  side  of  the  aisle,  about  twelve  feet  from 
the  floor,  a  small  pulpit  is  built  and  is  reached 
by  a  circular  staircase.  The  floor  is  of  marble. 
Instead  of  tableaux,  cheap  pictures  show  the 
Stations  of  the  Cross.  Lamps  and  candles 
furnish  the  light:  no  provision  is  made  for 
heat.  The  windows  are  of  stained  glass  and 
rather  artistic.  There  was  only  a  scattering 
of  people,  mostly  women  in  mourning.  A  few 
soldiers  attended. 

As  I  have  said  this  is  the  Champagne  coun- 
try; vineyards  exist  in  abundance  and  at  the 
present  time  they  need  attention;  the  ground 
around  each  vine  must  be  loosened.  Most  of 
the  men  are  in  the  army,  so  nearly  every  one 
in  town  turns  out  to  work.  Old  men,  old 
women,  middle-aged  women,  young  women, 
boys  and  girls  and  even  children  labor  in  the 
yards.  I  have  seen  grey-haired  women  bent 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  49 

almost  double  over  the  short  three-foot  hoe  in 
use  here.  Everybody  works,  they  work  hard 
and  with  a  will.  From  their  appearance,  the 
grapes  will  not  suffer  from  lack  of  attention. 

A  few  nights  ago  just  as  I  was  on  the  point 
of  going  to  sleep  a  soldier  came  rushing 
through  our  quarters  yelling  "Fire."  In  two 
shakes  of  a  lamb's  tail  we  were  all  downstairs, 
formed  in  ranks  and  on  double  time  in  the 
direction  of  the  fire,  and  as  it  was  only  a  short 
distance  off,  we  were  soon  there.  As  is  the 
local  custom,  the  house  was  set  back  and  shut 
off  from  the  road  by  an  eighteen-inch  brick 
and  stone  wall  covered  with  cement.  Next  to, 
and  in  fact  part  of  the  house  was  the  hay  shed; 
some  cavalry  men  were  quartered  here. 

When  we  came  into  the  courtyard  the  shed 
and  nearest  half  of  the  top  or  second  floor  of 
the  house  were  in  flames.  Already  some  of 
the  furniture  had  been  carried  out  from  the 
ground  floor  rooms,  and  taking  the  hint,  we 
rushed  through  the  doorway  to  bring  out 
more.  It  was  one  of  the  best  houses  in  town 


50  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

and  well  furnished.  By  this  time  nearly  every- 
body in  town  had  arrived,  but  there  was  no 
sign  of  any  fire  fighting  apparatus,  and  the  fire 
was  quickly  destroying  the  house.  Soon  there 
were  many  triumphant  cries,  and  with  much 
gusto  the  Fire  Department  of  Bouzy  burst 
upon  the  scene,  and  was  greeted  by  the  crowd 
with  many  acclamations  of  joy.  The  Fire  De- 
partment was  carried  by  eager  hands,  and  see- 
ing a  couple  of  vacant  inches,  I  took  hold. 
Everybody  was  yelling  and  giving  orders,  so 
the  Department  was  carried  all  over  the  yard 
and  frequently  came  near  being  deposited  on 
the  ground,  when  some  one  with  an  extra  loud 
voice  would  tell  of  a  more  advantageous  spot, 
so  there  the  Department  would  go.  This  pro- 
cedure was  kept  up  for  about  five  minutes 
before  the  machine  was  placed. 

It  consisted  of  a  heavy  iron  tank  four  feet 
long,  three  feet  wide  and  two  feet  high  with 
two  cylinders  and  a  long  two-handled  bar  for 
the  man-power.  Soon  the  hose  was  arranged 
and  men  formed  for  a  bucket-brigade.  Think 


OFF   TO   THE   FRONT  51 

of  it:  a  machine  to  which  the  water  must  be 
brought  and  then  pumped  through  the  hose  to 
the  blaze.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  water 
arrived  and  we  frequently  had  to  suspend  for 
lack  of  water.  Smith  mounted  to  the  roof  of  the 
building  and  Larney  was  conspicuous  on  an 
adjoining  roof.  Just  as  Smith  reached  the  roof 
a  stream  from  a  nearby  house  started  to  play, 
but  lacked  force  enough  to  reach  the  flames ;  it 
landed  directly  on  Smith  and  continued  play- 
ing on  him.  In  a  short  time  he  was  drenched 
and  the  spray  also  wet  Larney  through. 

Well,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  the  build- 
ing was  completely  destroyed,  but  no  damage 
was  done  to  any  nearby  structure.  Smith 
slept  in  his  wet  clothes  and  the  next  morning 
when  he  unrolled  from  his  blanket  a  cloud  of 
steam  arose.  He  surely  must  have  had  an  en- 
joyable evening  trying  to  sleep. 

The  helmets  worn  by  the  firemen  were  of 
brass  and  resembled  the  German  helmet,  only 
lacking  the  spike.  They  were  highly  polished 
and  quite  showy. 


IV 

IN  THE  FIRST  LINE  TRENCHES 

Somewhere  in  Prance  (Bouzy), 

March  7,  1915. 

\  \  7E  were  outfitted  unexpectedly  this  eve- 
ning and  are  busy  packing  and  getting 
rid  of  excess  weight  so  as  to  start  early  to-mor- 
row morning  for  the  trenches.  The  men  are 
glad  at  the  prospect  of  getting  into  the  game, 
and  are  making  considerable  noise  and  having 
a  high  old  time. 

(Place  Unknown), 
Wednesday,  March  10. 

At  half-past  five  o'clock  last  Monday  morn- 
ing we  were  up  and  ready  to  start.  We  left 
Bouzy  at  a  quarter  to  seven  by  the  town  clock. 
After  several  rests  we  reached  a  fair-sized 
town  and  had  lunch :  we  were  served  hot  coffee 

52 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  53 

here.  After  a  spell  in  the  trenches  the  men 
return  to  repose  in  this  town. 

We  were  divided  here  to  be  placed  in  differ- 
ent battalions,  etc.,  and  I  was  glad  to  learn 
that  we  were  lucky  enough  to  be  sent  to  a  bat- 
talion which  was  then  occupying  the  trenches. 
We  left  town  together  and  proceeded  on  our 
way  which  led  through  the  greatest  vineyards 
I  had  yet  seen.  We  paused  in  a  barn  for  a 
short  time  and  started  off  again.  There  were 
about  ten  of  us ;  Smith  and  Larney  were  with 
me;  Pavelka  we  left  in  Bouzy  as  he  is  sick.  I 
do  not  know  what  is  the  matter  with  him,  but 
it  does  not  amount  to  much,  whatever  it  is. 

We  finally  arrived  in  what  was  once  a  town. 
I  say  once,  because  as  a  town  it  ceases  to  exist. 
It  had  contained,  I  should  say,  about  two  or 
three  hundred  houses.  While  in  New  York 
I  had  read  of  the  towns  that  were  destroyed  in 
the  war,  but  the  realization  exceeded  my  most 
elaborate  ideas.  There  was  not  a  building  in 
the  entire  town  which  had  not  received  its 
share  of  destruction.  We  walked  through 


54  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

several  streets  looking  for  somebody  to  direct 
us  but  could  find  no  one.  The  place  seemed 
deserted ;  and  what  a  scene  of  ruin.  Here  was 
the  church  with  gaping  holes  in  the  roof  and 
one  side  with  four  openings  large  enough  to 
drive  a  team  through.  The  other  sides  were 
battered  and  the  steeple  was  blown  off.  It  is 
impossible  to  convey  any  idea  of  the  ruin 
which  was  everywhere  seen.  One  row  of  four 
houses  had  the  connecting  walls  completely 
destroyed.  In  the  entire  town  there  was  not 
a  house  with  its  roof  left,  nor  a  pane  of  un- 
broken glass. 

We  finally  located  a  sentinel  who  showed  us 
headquarters,  where  we  were  assigned  to  our 
companies,  etc.  After  lunch  we  were  to  pro- 
ceed to  our  trench.  While  waiting  for  the  re- 
past an  occasional  shell  whistled  by  and  ex- 
ploded a  short  distance  beyond.  Very  pleas- 
ant, I  assure  you.  We  finished  the  meal  and 
were  ready.  A  short  distance  from  the 
kitchen,  to  my  great  surprise,  we  entered  the 
famous  trenches.  Here  we  were  at  last.  I 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  55 

wish  I  could  express  my  feelings  when  I 
realized  where  I  was. 

It  was  simply  the  connecting  trench  which 
allowed  the  men  from  the  line  trenches  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  kitchen  and  get  the  meals.  The 
Germans  have  a  disagreeable  habit  of  shelling 
these  trenches  at  meal  time  and  quite  a  few 
accidents  have  occurred  in  them.  They  are 
about  five  feet  deep  and  very  narrow.  The 
earth  is  thrown  up  on  both  sides,  so  they  are 
quite  deep.  They  curve  in  a  horrible  fashion 
and  it  was  not  long  before  I  was  dizzy.  Mean- 
while an  occasional  shell  went  merrily  by. 
The  trenches  are  so  narrow  that  it  is  difficult 
for  two  men  to  pass.  We  continued  on  and 
passed  the  entrance  to  the  second  line:  after  a 
while  we  stopped.  Where  do  you  suppose  we 
were?  We  were  at  last  actually  in  the  first 
line  of  trenches. 

We  were  taken  to  the  lieutenant,  who  as- 
signed us  to  our  squads.  The  first  thing  we 
did  was  to  place  our  rifles  in  holes  in  the  trench 
facing  the  Germans.  I  looked  over  the  top 


56  KELLY   OF   THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 

of  the  trench  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy  but 
could  not  distinguish  much,  as  it  was  begin- 
ning to  get  dark.  They  were  there,  however, 
there  was  no  question  as  to  that  for  an  occa- 
sional bullet  whistled  by.  An  intermittent  fire 
is  kept  up  continually  by  both  sides.  Larney 
and  I  were  put  into  the  15th  squad  and  Smith 
in  the  14th.  We  were  assigned  to  our  quarters. 

The  firing  line  faces  the  Germans  in  a  zig- 
zag way.  There  is  a  trench  running  parallel 
to  and  back  of  it.  They  are  connected  by 
trenches  in  which  are  placed  the  living  quar- 
ters of  the  men.  There  are  two  caves  or  huts 
opposite  each  other  in  an  alley.  Of  course 
they  are  underground.  They  are  about  three 
and  a  half  to  four  feet  high  and  about  twelve 
feet  deep.  There  are  six  men  in  ours.  When 
lying  down  it  is  impossible  to  stretch  one's  legs 
out,  consequently  you  are  pretty  well  cramped 
after  sleeping. 

I  was  tired  after  our  long  march,  so  pre- 
pared to  turn  in,  but  found  that  we  were  to  be 
on  guard  during  the  night.  We  turned  out 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  57 

presently  and  I  was  placed  with  another  fellow 
in  a  trench  about  twenty  yards  in  advance  of 
the  main  one.  We  were  in  back  of  steel 
shields  with  our  rifles  loaded  and  on  the  watch 
for  a  German.  The  fellow  I  was  with  was  an 
Italian,  so  there  was  little  conversation  be- 
tween us.  We  were  there  two  hours  and  it  was 
very  cold.  We  saw  nothing  alarming.  Both 
sides  exchanged  shots  occasionally.  I  was 
very  glad  to  be  relieved,  as  a  cold  wind  was 
blowing.  We  went  into  the  guard  room  and 
it  was  not  long  before  I  wished  I  was  on  post 
again.  There  was  no  fire  in  this  cave  and  the 
ledge  upon  which  we  sat  was  about  four  inches 
wide.  It  was  also  cold  in  there.  Finally  we 
went  out  on  patrol.  We  put  the  bayonets  on 
our  guns  and  laid  down  on  the  earth.  I  was 
in  this  position  two  and  a  half  hours.  Let  me 
here  state  that  I  think  I  have  enjoyed  two  and 
a  half  hours  more  at  other  times  during  my 
career.  This  sharp,  cold  wind  continued,  so 
after  a  while  I  was  naturally  chilled.  There 
was  no  danger,  however,  as  I  estimated  that 


58  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

the  nearest  bullet  which  passed  us  was  at  least 
twenty  feet  distant. 

Nothing  happened  and  at  last  we  returned. 
I  was  very  sleepy  and  in  due  time  turned  in. 
After  sleeping  about  an  hour  and  a  half  I  was 
awakened  as  the  captain  wished  to  inspect  the 
new  men.  After  the  inspection  I  had  a  good 
sleep :  slept  most  of  the  day  and  all  the  night. 
It  is  rather  uncomfortable  in  the  cramped  po- 
sition but  it  is  possible  to  keep  warm  when  un- 
der the  blanket. 

The  meals  are  good,  but  only  lukewarm, 
as  they  have  to  be  carried  quite  a  distance. 
During  the  next  day  we  left  the  trenches  and 
returned  to  the  town  to  repose.  We  are  here 
now  for  eight  days.  It  is  very  comfortable 
here.  Another  American  was  put  in  our 
squad;  he  is  from  Boston;  has  been  in  France 
five  years  and  the  Legion  five  months;  in  the 
trenches  three  months.  He  is  a  fine  fellow.* 

At  present,  things  are  very  quiet.     I  think 

*  Kenneth  Weeks  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.  Killed 
June  16th. 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  59 

we  made  quite  a  record ;  from  a  reserve  train- 
ing station,  put  in  the  first  line  trenches  and 
the  first  night  there  put  on  patrol  and  two  days 
after  that  sent  with  the  Battalion  on  repose. 

After  this  letter  I  will  not  be  allowed  to  send 
any  mail  to  any  place  for  about  a  month. 

Well,  mother,  I  am  nearly  a  full  fledged  sol- 
dier now.  You  would  be  surprised  to  know 
how  glad  I  am  to  be  where  I  am. 

Somewhere  in  France, 

March  12,  1915. 

This  is  a  good  picture  of  the  actual  sights 
where  I  am  now.  Whole  towns  are  like  that 
shown  on  the  other  side.  All  well. 

RUSSELL. 


Verzenay, 
April  9,  1915. 

On  March  26th  we  returned  to  the  trenches, 
and  the  routine  was  the  same  as  before,  just 
the  continual  rifle  and  artillery  fire  and  very 


60  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

close  watching  of  the  enemy.  The  trenches 
are  dry  now  and  fairly  comfortable.  We  are 
all  in  tip-top  shape  and  enjoying  ourselves; 
•  the  only  thing  we  want  is  some  action. 

We  are  located  in  a  place  called  Verzenay, 
which  is  about  ten  kilometres  (six  and  a  quar- 
ter miles)  north  of  Bouzy.  The  first  line 
trenches  that  we  occupy  are  about  five  kilo- 
metres (three  miles)  north  of  the  town.  Verze- 
nay is  on  the  side  of  a  high  hill,  the  trenches 
being  in  the  valley;  a  grand  view  of  the  town 
is  had  from  the  trenches. 

I  should  judge  the  town  has,  normally,  four 
to  five  thousand  inhabitants.  The  Germans 
throw  ten  to  fifteen  shells  into  it  daily,  but 
they  do  little  damage,  and  more  than  half  of 
the  civil  population  has  remained  here. 

We  were  scheduled  to  leave  town  one  night 
for  the  third  line  of  defence  and  had  our  packs 
made  up  when  in  came  a  fellow  who  wanted 
to  see  the  Americans.  He  was  an  American 
from  the  Second  Regiment  etrangere,  and  had 
been  transferred  at  his  own  request,  and  as 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  61 

the  authorities  are  following  a  plan  of  segre- 
gation by  nations,  he  was  sent  to  our  squad. 
I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  learn  that  he  had 
been  at  Virginia  Military  Institute;  he  is 
Kniffin  Y.  Rockwell.  His  arrival  brought  our 
number  up  to  five. 

In  due  time  we  left  and  during  the  night 
reached  our  destination.  They  were  the  usual 
huts  dug  into  the  side  of  a  slight  terrace  sup- 
porting the  canal.  They  are  about  four  feet 
high  and  six  feet  wide  and  long  enough  to  ac- 
commodate a  squad  of  fifteen  men.  They 
have  been  in  use  since  the  beginning  of  the  war 
and  fresh  straw  has  been  put  into  them  at  in- 
tervals. The  old  straw,  however,  has  not  been 
removed  and  when  the  men  change  quarters 
they  leave  behind  them  all  discarded  junk,  so 
you  can  imagine  the  condition  they  are  in. 
When  I  first  arrived  I  tried  to  clean  up,  but 
the  deeper  I  got  into  the  straw  the  stronger 
the  philosophy  impressed  itself  on  me  that 
"what  one  doesn't  know  won't  hurt  one,"  so  I 
put  back  the  straw  and  let  it  go  at  that. 


62  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

There  are  a  great  number  of  rats  and  mice 
in  the  huts  and  the  first  night  an  energetic  rat 
loosened  a  mass  of  earth  above  my  head  and  it 
fell  directly  upon  me.  It  gave  me  a  great 
start  as  my  first  thoughts  pictured  a  company 
of  Germans  on  us.  These  rodents  are  a  great 
nuisance  on  account  of  their  large  numbers 
and  I  have  often  wished  there  was  a  Pied 
Piper  amongst  us. 

There  is  one  man  in  the  company  who  does 
not  share  my  feelings.  He  is  an  Italian  who 
is  used  to  a  strange  diet.  Every  morning 
about  nine  o'clock  he  sits  down  and  spreads 
out  his  victims  of  the  night:  they  generally 
number  five  or  six.  He  skins  these  and  as  he 
is  a  friend  of  the  cook  they  are  roasted  for  him. 
There  is  no  question  of  his  liking  for  them  be- 
cause we  always  have  more  than  enough  to  eat. 
I  have  seen  many  strange  things  over  here,  but 
the  cold-bloodedness  of  this  fairly  turns  one's 
stomach. 

There  is  not  any  regular  schedule  pursued 
here,  but  they  always  manage  to  keep  us  busy. 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  63 

During  the  second  day  Pavelka  joined  us  from 
the  hospital,  which  made  the  number  six.  This 
fellow  is  very  handy  and  volunteered  to  make 
us  a  base  ball.  For  the  centre  of  the  ball  he 
used  the  business  end  of  a  cartridge  and  on  this 
wound  worsted  and  thread  alternately.  For  a 
cover  he  cut  up  a  leather  puttee  and  sewed  it 
on  the  ball.  The  complete  article  was  really 
very  good  and  it  rivalled  Spalding's  Official 
League  Ball.  Old  A.  G.  would  have  given 
considerable  for  it  for  exhibition  purposes,  but 
he  will  never  get  it.  Home-run  Scanlan,  the 
heavy  hitter,  drove  it  into  the  canal  and  we 
lost  it.  He  also  broke  up  the  game,  much  to 
the  chagrin  of  the  entire  company  who  had 
gathered  around  to  see  us  play.  We  had  fun 
while  it  lasted,  and  we  intend  to  make  another 
one  when  we  go  back  to  the  canal. 

Aeroplanes  are  very  numerous.  There  are 
so  many  that  it  became  necessary  to  resume 
the  aeroplane  guard.  Each  section  takes  turns 
at  this  and  it  lasts  from  sunrise  to  sunset. 
Every  time  a  German  aircraft  flies  within 


64  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

range  we  fire  at  it.  This  occurs  many  times 
and  considerable  ammunition  is  used  but  no 
damage  done.  These  machines  warn  us  of 
their  approach  before  they  are  located  as  the 
sound  of  the  motor  carries  a  great  distance. 
Both  armies  shoot  at  the  'planes  with  cannon 
also. 

It  is  quite  interesting  to  follow  the  course 
of  an  aeroplane.  Take  a  German  one,  for  in- 
stance. We  may  be  cleaning  up  when  the 
faint  whir  of  a  motor  is  heard.  Work  ceases 
and  all  eyes  try  to  locate  the  machine.  It 
proves  to  be  an  approaching  German  'plane. 
When  the  probable  range  is  computed  our 
artillery  opens  fire.  The  report  of  the  piece 
is  heard  and  we  look  in  the  vicinity  of  the  aero- 
plane for  the  result.  In  a  couple  of  seconds  a 
puff  of  smoke  is  seen  and  shortly  after  the 
noise  of  the  bursting  shell  reaches  us.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  hit  it.  I  have  seen  a  great 
number  fired  at,  but  as  yet,  with  no  results. 

Another  thing  to  be  remarked  upon  is  the 
intrepidity  of  the  aviators.  They  don't  seem 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  65 

to  pay  any  attention  to  the  bombardment  (if 
we  may  call  it  such) .  One  beautiful  afternoon 
while  I  was  in  the  first  line,  a  French  aero- 
plane made  for  the  enemies'  lines.  The  Ger- 
mans saw  it  coming  and  opened  fire,  using 
three  pieces.  The  sky  was  cloudless,  so  I 
counted  the  puffs  of  smoke :  they  appeared  all 
around  the  plane,  but  in  spite  of  this  the  air- 
man continued  on  his  mission  and  actually  go£ 
out  of  range  behind  the  guns.  All  told  there 
were  sixty-eight  shells  thrown.  For  fifteen 
minutes  after,  it  was  possible  to  count  the 
puffs.  I  have  often  wondered  when  the  shells 
explode  near  an  aeroplane  and  do  not  dam- 
age it,  how  it  is  that  the  concussion  does  not  in 
some  way  injure  the  delicate  parts  of  the  ma- 
chine. We  have  not  seen  an  aerial  combat,  but 
all  root  for  one. 

On  our  first  repose  here  in  town  we  were 
treated  to  a  bath:  it  was  a  great  event.  A 
soldier  holds  a  hose  with  a  sprinkler  arrange- 
ment on  the  end  and  two  others  man  the  pump. 
First  we  are  allowed  a  little  water  to  get  up  a 


66  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

lather,  then  the  master  of  ceremonies  at  the 
hose  bellows  a  command  and  the  boys  at  the 
pump  bend  to  their  work  with  a  will,  with  the 
result  that  there  is  a  free-for-all  fight  to  get 
into  the  spray.  It  is  rather  a  crude  method, 
but  as  the  water  is  hot  we  are  very  thankful 
for  it.  I  had  my  second  yesterday  and  we 
hope  to  bathe  daily  at  the  canal. 

This  canal  reminds  me  greatly  of  the  old 
Erie,  save  for  the  locks.  Changing  levels  is 
accomplished  by  one  single  lock  as  against  the 
single  and  double  locks  used  on  the  Erie. 
Canal  boat  fleets  are  unknown  in  this  country : 
the  boats  travel  singly  and  are  towed  by  horses. 
Considering  the  depth  and  width  of  the  canal 
and  the  general  appearance  of  the  banks,  one 
can  almost  imagine  he  is  travelling  through 
New  York  state  on  the  old  waterway.  The 
type  of  boat  used  is  practically  the  same  as 
ours,  save  that  over  here  they  are  somewhat 
larger  and  with  a  more  pointed  bow. 

The  other  night  Weeks  took  us  out  to  din- 
ner: the  meal  was  served  in  the  home  of  one 


FIRST    LINE   TRENCHES  67 

of  the  native  vineyard  workers.  We  all  filed 
into  the  kitchen  of  the  house.  This  room  was 
located  on  the  ground  floor  and  had  a  window 
opening  onto  the  street.  It  served  also  as  the 
pantry,  dining  room,  and  was  also  used  for 
minor  purposes.  It  was  about  ten  by  twelve 
feet.  A  common  kitchen  table  occupied  the 
centre  of  the  room  under  a  hanging  oil  lamp. 
There  were  eight  chairs  (the  majority  rick- 
ety) scattered  around,  and  the  deep  window 
sill  would  accommodate  three  persons.  Into 
the  corner  opposite  the  main  door  was  fitted  a 
triangular  closet  which  accommodated  odds 
and  ends;  the  wine  supply  was  kept  here. 
Curtains  decorated  the  window;  the  floor  was< 
bare.  They  used  a  good  range. 

Weeks  was  acquainted  with  the  family  as 
he  had  dined  here  throughout  the  winter  when 
on  repose.  They  also  did  his  and  other  sol- 
diers' washing  and  the  clothes  were  hung  in 
this  room  on  lines  from  the  walls  to  dry;  con- 
sequently one  was  uncomfortable  until  seated. 
After  a  while  our  host  gave  his  order  and  the 


68  KELLY   OF  THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

woman  went  to  purchase  the  food.  Mean- 
while children  of  the  family  were  constantly 
coming  and  going.  After  the  sixth  had  made 
his  appearance  I  grew  confused  and  decided 
not  to  try  to  keep  track  of  them.  They  cer- 
tainly were  numerous,  and  starting  from  four 
feet  six  they  descended  in  regular  intervals  of 
six  inches  down  to  the  young  baby,  making  a 
natural  stairway  for  Father  Time. 

The  food  came  at  last;  it  was  a  chicken  and 
some  incidentals.  The  next  thing  was  to  pre- 
pare the  chicken  for  the  pot.  The  good  house- 
wife searched  high  and  low  for  a  knife,  and 
failing  to  locate  one  borrowed  Smith's  famous 
weapon  (he  paid  six  sous  for  it  in  Lyon  at  a 
bazaar).  Ah!  I  forgot.  She  singed  the  fowl 
first  over  the  table  around  which  we  were 
seated.  This  was  accomplished  by  means  of 
burning  newspapers,  the  ashes  of  which  fell 
into  the  wine.  We  did  not  mind  this,  only  the 
smell  of  burning  hair  was  rather  disagreeable. 
I  had  recovered  from  this,  when,  picture  my 
chagrin,  the  good  lady  started  to  butcher  the 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  69 

bird  right  under  our  noses  and  placidly 
strewed  the  table  with  the  chicken's  guts.  I 
think  grape  picking  trains  the  hands  to  quick, 
vigorous  action ;  anyhow,  the  way  those  giblets 
and  other  parts  of  the  chicken's  anatomy  were 
flying  around  caused  us  to  dodge  continually, 
and  with  great  foresight  I  placed  my  hand 
over  the  glass  to  protect  the  wine. 

The  lady  was  not  an  expert  butcher;  when 
she  could  not  locate  a  joint  the  members  were 
torn  apart  by  main  strength.  As  for  the  flesh, 
it  was  actually  ripped  off  in  shreds  and  the 
whole  business  thrown  into  a  pot.  Smith's 
heart  was  almost  broken  as  the  blade  of  his 
knife  was  bent  all  out  of  shape :  it  was  ruined. 
The  meal  consisted  of  rice,  soup,  fried  chicken 
and  bread,  with  coffee  at  the  end.  It  was  very 
tasty,  indeed.  What  struck  me  forcibly  was 
the  way  the  children  ate.  They  came  in  just 
long  enough  to  swallow  a  few  mouthfuls. 
Through  carelessness  I  think  the  young  folks 
are  not  receiving  the  proper  amount  of 
nourishment.  Anyway  the  children  of  France 


70  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

do  riot  shape  up  as  being  sturdy.    We  all  en- 
joyed the  novel  incident  greatly. 

We  eventually  got  to  the  first  line  again  and 
occupied  the  same  hut  as  on  our  previous  stay. 
There  were  seven  of  us  in  there,  six  Ameri- 
cans and  the  corporal.  It  was  not  wide  enough 
to  lie  cross  ways,  so  we  slept  at  an  angle.  It 
reminded  me  of  the  story  of  the  six  men  in  one 
bed;  when  a  man  became  tired  lying  on  one 
side  and  gave  the  signal  to  turn,  all  turned  at 
once  and  if  any  one  failed  to  hear  the  signal  it 
broke  up  the  party.  This  was  the  case  here; 
we  were  cramped  to  an  uncomfortable  degree. 
The  first  night  we  were  disturbed  by  a  great 
racket.  It  proved  to  be  Smith  forcing  Larney 
back  into  his  proper  location.  It  might  be  well 
to  remark  here  that  Larney  is  a  considerable 
sleeper.  He  talks  almost  nightly  and  would 
you  believe  me,  back  in  Bouzy  he  actually  sang 
one  verse  of  "My  Country,  'Tis  of  Thee."  It 
was  in  a  far  away,  hollow  voice,  but  he  carried 
the  tune  fairly  well.  Some  nights  we  grow 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  71 

alarmed  over  his  welfare;  he  groans  and 
mumbles  so. 

At  the  first  line  we  are  on  guard  every  other 
night,  and  as  the  weather  was  cold  it  was  not 
very  enjoyable.  One  night  I  was  on  guard 
from  one  a.  m.  to  three  a.  m.  with  Larney.  We 
were  in  a  trench  running  at  right  angles  from 
the  main  one  and  about  twenty  feet  from  it. 
It  is  so  arranged  that  the  earth  is  on  a  level 
with  our  eyes.  You  would  be  surprised  to 
know  how  hard  it  is  to  keep  awake.  Even  as 
near  the  enemy  as  we  are,  an  almost  uncon- 
querable desire  to  sleep  overcomes  us.  It  must 
be  that  the  constant  searching  and  the  strain- 
ing of  the  eyes  into  the  darknes  hypnotizes 
one,  but  be  this  as  it  may,  it  required  a  great 
effort  to  keep  awake.  We  all  complain  of 
this. 

On  the  night  I  speak  about,  I  was  struggling 
to  keep  awake  when  all  of  a  sudden  my  heart 
almost  stopped  beating.  I  was  thoroughly 
wide  awake  instantly:  I  could  have  sworn  that 
there  were  two  figures  directly  in  front  of  me 


72  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  away.  One 
seemed  to  be  standing  and  the  other  kneeling, 
and  as  we  maintain  a  trench  running  parallel 
to  the  main  one  and  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  beyond,  my  mind  pictured  all  kinds 
of  things.  I  watched  them  intently  and  they 
seemed  to  be  working  at  something,  but  in  the 
uncertain  light  it  was  maddening.  The  large 
figure  appeared  to  be  motionless  but  the  small 
one  seemed  to  rise  and  bend  like  a  man  at  a 
pump.  This  continued  for  what  seemed  ages. 
I  am  well  aware  that  at  night  objects  take 
strange  forms,  but  I  could  not  account  for 
these.  Our  rifles  are  constantly  loaded  and 
cocked  while  on  guard  and  I  was  tempted  to 
take  a  shot  at  it,  but  I  wanted  to  see  them 
actually  move  before  I  fired.  I  looked  over 
and  saw  Larney  observing  the  same  thing. 

We  talked  it  over  and  decided  that  it  was 
part  of  the  landscape;  the  next  morning  we 
went  into  the  trench  and  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  it  was  two  trees. 

Another  time  while  on  guard  in  the  second 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  73 

line  position,  I  was  looking  out  of  a  small  port 
hole  in  the  trench.  I  had  just  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  guard  duty  was  a  waste  of 
time  when  I  saw  what  looked  to  be  a  figure 
crawling  slowly  under  the  barbed  wires  in 
front  of  the  trench. 

It  was  a  wretched  night,  raining  and  very 
dark.  I  could  have  sworn  that  this  was  really 
a  man.  I  almost  pictured  him  freeing  himself 
from  the  barbs.  I  thought  a  better  view  would 
be  gained  from  over  the  trench,  so  I  noise- 
lessly climbed  up  until  my  head  was  clear  of 
the  earth,  but  it  was  impossible  to  see  when  my 
eyes  were  above  the  surface  of  the  earth,  so 
I  got  back  again. 

The  object  was  still  in  the  same  position. 
Would  you  believe  I  actually  kept  my  eyes 
glued  on  the  thing  for  nearly  two  hours.  A 
number  of  lights  were  sent  up  by  both  sides, 
but  their  positions  were  such  they  did  not  help 
me.  Finally,  a  German  white  light  went  up 
in  a  direct  line  with  my  eyes  and  the  object. 
What  do  you  think  my  creeping  German  was  ? 


74  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Nothing  but  a  frame  to  roll  wire  on.  I  cer- 
tainly was  disgusted  when  I  made  this  discov- 
ery. 

One  cannot  help  imagining  things.  Every- 
thing keys  the  imagination  up ;  the  steady  rifle 
fire,  the  occasional  cannon,  the  bursting  mines, 
the  flare  of  the  night  lights  and  distant  bom- 
bardments all  tend  to  put  one  in  a  condition 
to  see  anything. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  the  difference  of 
speed  between  sight  and  sound.  For  instance, 
a  cannon  far  in  our  rear  will  discharge  a  shell ; 
the  flash  is  visible  from  the  piece,  the  whir  of 
the  shell  as  it  passes  is  heard,  and  the  flash  as 
it  bursts  is  seen,  then  both  reports  sound  al- 
most simultaneous,  the  discharge  of  the  gun 
and  bursting  of  the  shell.  This,  of  course, 
only  happens  when  one's  position  is  almost  in 
the  middle  of  the  trajectory. 

Another  idea  of  mine  which  was  shattered 
by  actual  experience  was  the  action  of  a  burst- 
ing shell.  From  war  pictures  I  drew  the  in- 
ference that  at  the  moment  a  shell  bursts  it 


FIRST   LINE   TRENCHES  75 

was  possible  to  see  the  fragments ;  not  so.  The 
report  of  the  piece  is  heard,  then  the  whistle 
of  the  shell,  a  puff  of  smoke  is  seen  and  finally 
a  loud  report.  That's  all,  but  believe  me  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  power  in  a  shell. 

In  the  second  line  the  quarters  were  fair. 
Wide  enough  for  us  to  stretch  out  and  about 
five  feet  high.  Each  one  accommodates  a  sec- 
tion. The  condition  of  the  straw  was  the  same 
as  described  before.  One  night  it  began  to 
rain  and  in  about  half  an  hour  the  rain  soaked 
through  the  earth  and  dripped  on  us.  We 
hung  our  shelter-halves  up  under  the  roof  to 
catch  the  water.  These  covers  performed  their 
duty  O.  K.,  but  the  water  leaked  in  all  around 
them.  The  first  night  was  not  so  bad,  although 
the  place  was  wet  in  spots.  It  rained  during 
the  second  day  and  things  became  worse:  the 
trenches  were  in  an  awful  condition,  the  water 
being  ankle  deep  in  places  and  the  mud  beat- 
ing Cedarhurst's  best  to  a  fare-you-well. 

That  night,  however,  was  the  worst  of  all. 
The  rain  was  dripping  through  pretty  steadily 


76  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

and  it  had  begun  to  get  the  best  of  the  tent 
covers  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  emptied 
them  regularly.  We  eventually  turned  in  and 
as  an  almost  steady  stream  was  dropping  on 
my  head  I  put  my  overcoat  over  it  and  grap- 
pled with  Morpheus.  I  had  him  flat  on  his 
back  and  was  about  to  rise  to  the  cries  of  the 
spectators  when  my  subconscious  mind  differ- 
entiated between  the  voice  of  applause  and  the 
wail  of  dismay.  Instantly  I  was  awake  and 
poked  my  head  out  to  see  what  the  fuss  was 
about,  but  the  steady  stream  forced  my  cra- 
nium under  the  coat  again. 

Out  of  the  confusion  I  gleamed  that  a  tent 
cover  had  fallen  with  the  weight  of  the  water 
and  drenched  a  Greek,  two  fellows  down  from 
me.  He  was  very  active  vocally:  I'll  bet  he 
cursed  a  few.  We  were  all  very  uncomfort- 
able. I  was  telling  myself  how  good  it  was  to 
be  dry  when  I  realized  that  I  was  not  as  dry 
as  I  might  be.  From  my  shoulders  to  my 
feet  I  was  awash  in  three  inches  of  water.  It 
surely  did  feel  fierce,  but  it  was  impossible  to 


FIRST  LINE  TRENCHES  77 

better  the  condition  as  everything  was  wet. 
It  was  only  two  a.  m.  and  I  prayed  for  day- 
light. We  managed  to  dry  out  pretty  well 
during  the  day. 

I  wish  we  had  some  of  those  new  patented 
trench  digging  machines  the  World's  Advance 
tells  about,  because  I  have  dug  about  one  thou- 
sand miles  of  trenches,  or  nearly  that  many. 
We  are  constantly  digging  new  and  repairing 
old  trenches,  so  now  we  have  an  elaborate  sys- 
tem of  underground  streets. 

I  certainly  do  feel  fine  and  enjoy  the  life, 
but  there  is  no  question  about  it,  war  is  an 
asinine  thing. 


REMOVED  TO  THE  ARRAS  SECTEUR 

(Place  Unknown), 

May  6,  1915. 

TT^OR  many  days  we  knew  something  was  in 
-*•  the  wind,  but  what  or  when  it  would  hap- 
pen was  a  puzzle  to  all.  Some  said  we  were 
going  back  to  Lyon  for  a  repose,  while  others 
maintained  we  were  bound  for  the  Dardanelles. 
Finally  we  got  orders  to  pack  all  our  stuff 
and  be  ready  to  move  during  the  night.  About 
midnight,  April  24th,  a  French  regiment  re- 
lieved us  and  we  marched  out  of  Verzenay.  It 
was  a  very  disagreeable  night,  and  coupled 
with  a  chilly,  penetrating  fog  and  the  rather 
forced  march,  we  were  more  or  less  fatigued 
when  we  reached  a  small  town  at  about  five 
o'clock  the  next  morning:  our  escouade 
(squad),  the  15th,  was  assigned  to  a  sort  of 

78 


THE   ARRAS    SECTEUR  79 

cow  shed.  The  ground  was  as  hard  as  a  rock 
and  as  cold.  We  turned  in,  but  tired  as  we 
were,  it  was  impossible  to  get  much  sleep,  al- 
though we  tried  to  sleep  during  the  day.  At 
five  in  the  afternoon  we  went  up  town  to  see 
what  the  place  was  like;  it  was  a  small  place 
with  about  six  stores  and  overcrowded  with 
soldiers. 

When  we  got  back  I  started  to  read  periodi- 
cals received  from  New  York.  Outside  there 
was  a  small  yard  with  a  squad  kitchen  on  one 
side  and  our  quarters  on  the  other.  I'll  stop 
here  a  second  to  say  a  word  about  the  men  in 
our  squad. 

The  corporal  could  be  most  anything  but 
I  think  he  is  Arab-French ;  he  is  a  quiet  fellow 
and  O.  K.  There  are  four  Legionnaires  with 
us;  one  of  them  has  served  fifteen  years  with 
the  Legion  and  another  about  ten.  These  two 
are  naturalized  Frenchmen  and  fast  friends. 
The  old-timer  has  a  huge  beard  and  is  a  very 
quaint  character.  I  enjoy  watching  him;  he 
reminds  me  so  much  of  those  gnomes  who  used 


80  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

to  interest  me  when  I  was  small.  The  other 
fellow  is  short  and  very  brown.  The  way  they 
confide  in  each  other  is  really  ludicrous.  When 
one  has  an  imaginary  illness  he  takes  the  other 
aside  and  they  get  their  heads  together  and 
sympathize  with  each  other;  it  is  laughable. 
As  they  share  their  sorrows  they  also  share 
their  joys.  You  buy  their  kind  of  joy  by  the 
canteen  full,  and  believe  me  they  are  a  joyous 
pair.  The  old  fellow  has  been  joyous  for  about 
fifteen  years. 

The  other  two  Legionnaires  are  Belgians 
and  unimportant.  Then  we  have  two  Italians 
who  remind  me  of  brigands.  One  is  a  big 
husky  fellow  and  the  other  is  a  typical  dra- 
matic villain;  good  looking,  dashing  and  all 
that  stuff.  We  have  an  Italian  kid  with  us, 
but  he  is  only  a  nuisance.  The  two  brigands 
take  an  interest  in  him  to  the  extent  of  con- 
tinually kicking  and  cuffing  him  around. 
Well,  as  I  was  reading  the  magazine  I  heard 
a  noise  in  the  yard  and  upon  going  out  found 
the  six-foot  corporal  slugging  the  five-foot  five 


THE   AURAS   SECTEUR  81 

Legionnaire.  I  was  glad  to  see  it  because  the 
little  fellow  needs  a  beating.  He  talks  too 
much.  Weeks  was  out  there  and  did  not  like 
the  unevenness  of  the  fight  so  he  interfered. 
The  big  brigand  then  came  up  and  hit  the 
little  Legionnaire  a  "beaut,"  knocking  him 
across  the  yard.  The  little  fellow  got  up  just 
in  time  to  be  knocked  back  across  the  yard,  and 
the  big  fellow  was  going  to  repeat  the  perform- 
ance when  Weeks  interfered  again. 

By  this  time  we  were  all  out  in  the  yard  en- 
joying the  fun.  The  argument  got  pretty  hot 
and  finally,  as  usual,  the  peacemaker  got  a 
wallop  in  the  jaw.  The  American  section 
acted  as  if  they  were  all  hit,  and  in  fact  they 
were  when  one  of  them  was  hit.  In  a  fraction 
of  a  second  it  was  the  biggest  free-for-all  I 
was  ever  in  or  hope  to  be  in.  We  battled 
around  the  yard  to  a  fare-you-well  and  in  no 
time  the  guard  was  on  the  scene  with  fixed 
bayonets,  but  we  still  kept  on. 

In  a  lull  in  the  action  I  happened  to  look 
around  in  time  to  see  the  villainous  looking 


82  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

bandit  picking  up  a  brick.  I  made  a  bee-line 
for  him  and  in  no  time  had  received  a  good 
clout  on  my  bean  for  my  trouble.  The  guards 
eventually  separated  us,  but  the  Americans 
carried  the  day.  They  started  to  take  me  to 
the  lock-up  but  I  landed  at  the  infirmary  and 
had  my  head  bandaged.  They  locked  Pavelka 
up,  but  he  should  have  come  with  me,  as  a 
friend  of  the  bandits  hit  him  on  the  forehead 
with  a  dish  pan.  He  needed  bandaging  and 
soon  was  sent  back  for  treatment.  We  all 
shook  hands  and  called  it  square. 

The  next  day  we  marched  to  the  railroad 
and  came  north.  It  was  a  wretched  trip  as  we 
were  packed  closely  in  freight  cars  and  it  took 
twenty-four  hours  to  come  two  hundred  kilo- 
metres, being  about  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  miles.  We  left  the  cars  at  a  town  called 
Aubigny,  which  is  about  six  miles  due  west  of 
the  village  of  La  Targette,  but  we  located  in 
a  town  nearer  the  front.  At  night  we  marched 
to  the  trenches  and  worked  there.  It  was  very 
dangerous:  the  outposts  being  about  fifty 


THE   ARRAS    SECTEUR  83 

yards  apart.  One  night  the  second  fellow 
from  me  was  hit  in  the  stomach.  It  is  good 
to  work  under  such  conditions,  as  work  takes 
the  mind  from  the  bullets ;  inaction  under  fire 
is  a  terrible  strain  on  the  nerves. 

We  were  in  the  trenches  three  days,  worked 
all  day  and  at  night  we  went  out  on  the  field 
and  laid  down  four  hours  at  a  stretch,  to  guard 
against  a  surprise.  To  make  matters  worse  it 
rained  and  the  mud  was  a  foot  deep  in  places. 
We  went  back  to  a  small  town,  arriving  there 
at  ten  a.  m. 

We  have  everything  in  abundance.  I  have 
seen  fellows  throw  shirts  and  other  articles 
away,  rather  than  wash  them,  as  new  ones  are 
always  given.  There  is  actually  more  than 
enough  of  everything.  We  are  living  like 
princes. 

I  was  glad  to  hear  that  my  letter  from 
Bouzy  was  received.  Allowance  must  be  made 
for  the  writing  as  it  was  done  on  a  two-by- 
four-foot  plank,  which  I  straddled,  my  feet 
dangling.  We  Americans  were  all  interested 


84  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

in  the  statement  in  the  letter  to  me,  that  it  has 
been  said  the  Germans  would  treat  Foreign 
Legionnaires  who  were  not  citizens  of  France 
as  irregular  soldiers ;  and  the  suggestions  made 
for  us  to  observe  in  case  of  capture  will  be 
followed. 


VI 


BATTLE  OF  ARTOIS ;  AT  LA  TARGETTE  AND 
NEUVILLE  ST.  VAAST 

Somewhere  near  Aubigny, 

May  16,  1915. 

Sunday  morning,  May  9th,  we  were 
routed  out  at  one  o'clock  and  marched 
to  the  trenches,  reaching  the  third  line  at  sun- 
rise, and  at  five  o'clock  our  artillery  increased 
its  already  very  severe  bombardment, — the 
continual  rumble  and  vibration  being  beyond 
description.  This  lasted  until  ten  o'clock  and 
as  soon  as  it  stopped,  Battalion  C  in  our  sec- 
tion left  the  trenches,  charging  with  the  bayo- 
net. 

They  carried  the  trenches  with  great  loss. 
I  understand  the  Germans  were  panic  stricken 
by  the  bombardment  and  one  of  their  bat- 

85 


86  KELLY   OF   THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 

talions  was  buried  as  the  trenches  collapsed 
under  our  heavy  artillery  fire. 

Battalion  A  followed  C  and  lost  a  great 
many;  there  are  two  Americans  in  A,  one 
of  them  is  O.  K.  while  the  other  was  shot 
twice,  in  the  shoulder  and  in  the  leg. 

Our  Battalion  B  left  the  trenches  right 
after  A  under  a  heavy  rifle  and  machine  gun 
fire,  the  ground  we  crossed  being  well  strewn 
with  dead  and  dying  of  Battalions  C  and  A. 
We  charged  across  fields  in  a  line  of  skirm- 
ishes, and  I  will  never  be  able  to  satisfy  my- 
self how  so  many  of  us  got  through  safely. 

When  we  reached  the  first  line  of  German 
trenches  we  found  them  battered  and  destroyed 
by  our  bombardment.  Soon  after  crossing 
them  our  first  stop  was  in  the  shelter  of  a  road. 
Here  the  good  looking  bandit,  the  fellow  who 
hit  me  with  the  brick,  got  reckless  and  tried  to 
survey  the  landscape;  he  was  killed  instantly 
by  a  bullet  through  the  heart.  No  convulsive 
tossing  of  the  arms  one  reads  about  or  sees  in 
the  movies — he  just  sank  down  and  it  was  all 


BATTLE   OF   ARTOIS  87 

over.  Soon  after  we  left  this  position,  the 
other  bandit  was  shot  through  the  leg.  There 
was  absolutely  no  ill  feeling  between  us  on  ac- 
count of  our  scrap. 

We  then  laid  down  on  the  ground  and  soon 
the  Germans  got  our  range;  six  men  close  to 
me  were  hit ;  so  we  started  on  again. 

The  German  artillery  had  opened  on  as, 
and  the  suspense  of  lying  there  and  waiting 
to  be  hit  is  indescribable.  The  shells  were 
bursting  all  around  me  and  one  rushed  by  so 
close  that  I  actually  think  a  chunk  of  solidified 
air  hit  me  on  the  forehead ;  anyway,  something 
bruised  my  forehead.  I  rushed  over  and  got 
into  the  hole,  it  was  five  feet  deep.  I  hap- 
pened to  be  looking  where  four  men  were 
lying,  when  a  shell  blew  the  four  of  them  to 
dust. 

In  my  letter  from  Lyon  I  mentioned  three 
brothers  from  Argentina;  they  were  insepar- 
able even  in  death;  they  were  killed  side  by 
side. 


88  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

We  finally  took  the  crest  of  a  hill,  it  was 
dusk  and  we  dug  ourselves  in. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  picture  displayed  as 
I  looked  back  across  the  field  in  the  fading 
light.  It  is  a  nightmare:  during  the  entire 
night  the  cries  of  the  wounded  rang  out.  I 
had  a  pleasant  bedfellow, — a  corporal  and  he 
lay  in  the  trench,  only  two  feet  away.  He 
actually  fascinated  me.  I  could  not  help  look- 
ing at  his  brains  which  stuck  out  of  the  back 
of  his  neck,  exactly  like  two  horns.  During 
the  next  day  they  gradually  melted  until  at 
nightfall  they  had  slid  entirely  off  his  neck. 
Grand,  grand  indeed,  is  this  butchery  they  call 
war! 

During  the  night  we  were  on  the  watch,  and 
at  times  the  fire  from  the  enemy,  aided  by  the 
German  night-lights,  was  severe. 

As  day  broke  Monday  we  were  ready  for 
the  counter  attack,  which  was  sure  to  come  and 
it  came  early  and  fierce.  Their  artillery 
shelled  us  in  a  most  desperate  manner,  and 
men  were  killed  and  wounded  in  large  num- 


BATTLE   OF   AKTOIS  89 

bers  and  very  close  to  me;  and  again  the  sus- 
pense of  expecting  to  be  hit  by  a  shell  was 
horrible. 

Bavarian  troops  were  opposite  and  they 
made  a  rush  for  us,  and  I  am  bound  to  ac- 
knowledge that  no  human  beings  could  have 
shown  more  bravery  and  determination  than 
they  did:  but  our  artillery  was  most  effective, 
and  we  stood  firm  in  our  trenches  and  smeared 
them.  Their  counter  attacks  all  failed  and 
that  night  we  still  held  the  trenches  we  had 
dug. 

We  were  entirely  out  of  water  both  Sun- 
day and  Monday,  and  as  a  consequence  suf- 
fered very  much. 

Early  the  next  morning,  before  daybreak, 
reserves  took  our  places  and  what  was  left  of 
our  regiment  returned  to  the  rear  for  reor- 
ganization. 

I  laugh  when  I  try  to  think  of  civilization. 
But  with  all  we  must  admit  it  is  a  great  world 
and  I  do  not  regret  that  I  am  here. 


90  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Somewhere  near  Aubigny, 

May  20,  1915. 

A  sergeant  was  commanding  our  Company, 
all  the  officers  having  been  killed  or  wounded. 
Our  captain  was  a  very  game  man;  he  led  us 
without  a  sword  or  any  side  arms,  only  using 
his  swagger  stick.  He  was  killed  by  a  shell. 

We  advanced  by  sections.  When  the  or- 
der came  we  jumped  up,  and  carrying  a  sack 
as  a  shield,  ran  about  one  hundred  feet, — and 
talk  about  Ty  Cobb  sliding  into  second  base, 
it  isn't  a  circumstance  to  the  way  I  hit  the 
ground.  And  what  a  strain  it  was  on  the 
nerves  waiting  for  our  turn  to  advance  again, 
fellows  all  around  being  hit.  In  a  couple  of 
cases  I  have  seen  men  almost  lifted  from  the 
ground,  so  hard  were  they  struck.  One  fel- 
low very  near  me  was  hit  and  began  to  squeal, 
almost  immediately  a  second  bullet  hit  him  and 
he  made  for  the  rear  on  all  fours  crying  like 
a  child.  The  field  was  full  of  such  sights. 

But  compared  to  the  shells  the  bullets  are 
nothing:  give  me  most  anything  but  an  ar- 


BATTLE   OF   ARTOIS  91 

tillery  bombardment.  I  cannot  figure  out 
how  the  five  of  us  missed  being  hit. 

The  prisoners  we  took  were  well  fed  and 
clothed,  but  are  sick  of  the  war. 

After  the  attack  we  were  quartered  in  Mont 
St.  Eloi,  about  two  miles  west  of  La  Targette, 
but  as  it  was  in  range  and  the  Germans  shelled 
us,  we  were  sent  ten  miles  to  the  rear  to  await 
recruits. 

Our  regiment  lost  heavily  in  killed  and 
wounded,  not  half  coming  back.  The  little 
Italian  kid  I  previously  mentioned  was  too 
frightened  to  leave  our  trenches. 

The  six  Americans  of  our  squad,  Larney, 
Rockwell,  Pavelka,  Smith,  Weeks  and  myself 
passed  through  safely,  except  Rockwell  who 
was  shot  in  the  leg.  We  learned  he  was  cared 
for  by  our  field  ambulance. 


VII 

TO  THE  REAR  FOR  RECRUITING 

(Place  Unknown), 

June  10,  1915. 

after  we  were  located  at  the  rear  to 
await  recruits  the  General  commanding 
our  Division  reviewed  us  and  distributed  five 
military  medals. 

We  have  a  new  Captain  in  the  place  of  the 
one  who  was  killed;  he  is  a  Swede  and  is  very 
military;  he  has  us  drilling  a  great  deal,  and 
works  us  pretty  hard,  considering  that  we  have 
smelt  powder  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term. 

We  have  just  learned  that  Italy  has  en- 
tered the  war;  also,  that  an  American  mer- 
chant-man has  been  torpedoed.  We  would 
like  to  see  the  United  States  keep  out  of  the 
war  if  it  can. 

On  May  29th  we  returned  to  a  location  near 

92 


TO   THE   REAR  93 

the  front,  and  lately  many  German  prisoners 
have  passed  us.  One  day  as  many  as  eight 
hundred  went  by;  they  looked  well.  By  a 
strange  coincidence  the  same  Bavarian  troops 
who  faced  us  in  Champagne  are  against  us 
here,  and  yesterday  we  recognized  a  man  in 
their  ranks  who  deserted  from  us  in  Cham- 
pagne. I  guess  it  is  all  over  with  him;  it 
should  be. 

It  seems  that  our  effort  of  May  9th  was 
more  successful  than  that  of  the  British.  The 
German  prisoners  say  they  cannot  stand  our 
artillery  fire.  I  don't  blame  them,  as  the 
French  75  centimeter  field  piece  has  proved  to 
be  the  wonder  of  the  war. 

We  are  all  well;  in  fact  I  never  felt  better 
in  my  life. 

I  have  just  received  the  packages  from 
New  York  and  am  thankful  for  them.  Socks 
are  very  desirable  as  we  are  on  our  feet  a  great 
part  of  the  time  and  I  can  rest  easy  now  that 
I  am  well  stocked  with  them.  The  soup  cubes 
were  fine:  we  make  soup  every  night  before 


94  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

turning  in.  One  of  the  tooth  brushes  was  bro- 
ken in  transit  but  the  other  comes  in  handy  as 
the  one  I  brought  from  home  is  about  used  up. 
I  am  keeping  the  combs,  but  do  not  use  them, 
as  during  the  hot  weather  our  hair  is  cut  very 
close  with  the  machine.  Some  fellows  have 
their  heads  shaved,  but  I  think  that  is  going 
too  far.  This  idea  of  having  the  hair  cut  short 
is  a  good  one  as  it  is  very  warm  here  now. 

We  spent  four  days  in  the  trenches  to  the 
left  of  the  ones  the  Legion  occupied  prior  to 
the  attack  of  May  9th.  Skipper  Pavelka  and 
I  went  all  through  the  devastated  German 
trenches.  I  could  find  scarcely  anything  as 
we  were  there  nearly  three  weeks  after  the  at- 
tack and  countless  French  soldiers  had  searched 
before  us.  I  found  some  envelopes  and  wrap- 
pers for  parcel  post  packages  with  the  German 
postage  stamps  attached,  and  I  send  these  to 
you;  it  will  be  seen  the  letters  bear  Bavarian 
postage  stamps,  and  are  directed  to  Bavarian 
infantry  soldiers. 

The  German  trenches  were  built  much  bet- 


TO   THE    REAR  95 

ter  than  ours.  Some  of  the  huts  in  which  the 
men  lived  were  twenty  feet  under  ground. 
They  used  a  great  number  of  dirt  sacks :  there 
must  be  a  shortage  of  strong  material  in  Ger- 
many, as  these  sacks  were  made  mostly  from 
cheap,  light  calico  which  was  hardly  strong 
enough  to  hold  the  earth. 

They  had  an  extensive  system  of  mines  and 
we  made  the  attack  just  in  time  as  Pavelka  and 
I  investigated  the  saps  with  the  aid  of  a  candle. 
They  were  all  loaded  and  wired  ready  to  be  set 
off.  One  of  them  had  been  exploded.  The 
Germans  lost  their  bearings  in  digging,  be- 
cause the  hole  was  actually  nearer  their  own 
lines  than  it  was  to  ours.  They  used  a  tre- 
mendous charge  and  the  explosion  must  have 
been  terrific  for  the  result  reminded  me  of  the 
crater  of  a  volcano;  it  was  easily  thirty  feet 
deep. 

Our  bombardment  before  the  attack  of  May 
9th  had  played  havoc  with  the  German 
trenches;  a  great  number  of  the  roofs  on  the 
huts  had  fallen  during  the  cannonading  bury- 


96  KELLY   OF   THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 

ing  alive  all  the  occupants.  Around  these 
places  the  stench  was  horrible.  All  through 
these  trenches  was  evidence  of  heavy  losses  on 
the  part  of  the  Germans;  at  intervals,  arms 
and  legs  projected  from  the  walls  and  floor  of 
the  trenches,  and  all  in  all  it  was  a  pretty 
gruesome  journey. 

As  a  result  of  May  9th  our  line  is  advanced 
over  two  miles,  but  the  Germans  hold  a  danger- 
ous position  on  the  side  of  a  large  hill  and  it 
will  be  hard  work  chasing  them  off. 

We  have  been  out  to  dig  trenches  a  couple 
of  times  and  believe  me  we  sure  do  work.  Im- 
agine getting  up  and  working  on  the  ground 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the 
German  line  with  them  shooting  all  the  time. 
Work!  you  bet  the  men  work  with  a  will  and 
it  does  not  take  long  to  get  a  good  trench  dug. 
They  have  a  poor  system  here.  We  walk 
about  seven  miles  from  this  town  where  we  are 
now  to  the  first  line,  dig  a  trench  and  walk 
back.  We  leave  at  six  p.  m.  and  get  back  at 


TO   THE   REAR  97 

five  a.  m. — the  idea  of  walking  seven  miles  to 
work. 

There  is  not  much  left  of  the  Legion  of  May 
9th;  the  Italians  have  been  liberated  to  return 
to  their  own  army.  Our  company  had  fifty- 
five  men  out  of  a  full  company  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty,  but  we  expect  to  be  filled  up  again 
with  the  men  from  Valbonne  and  Lyon.  I 
should  judge  one  thousand  have  already  been 
sent  up  here  from  those  places. 

Well,  this  war  is  a  great  game.  The  next 
person  who  mentions  the  glories  of  war  should 
be  jumped  on  with  both  feet.  Picture  the 
charge  with  the  band  playing  and  the  men 
singing — what  tommy-rot.  In  the  first  place 
the  instruments  never  get  near  the  actual 
fighting,  and  in  the  second  place  the  men  at 
that  time  don't  care  a  hang  for  a  song. 

We  have  some  fun  with  the  boxing  gloves,  a 
new  set  having  been  sent  to  us  from  Paris.  It 
is  surprising  to  know  how  many  good  boxers 
there  are  around  here.  The  other  day  two 
Zouaves  who  weighed  about  one  hundred  and 


98  KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

eighty  pounds  each  turned  up  and  were  very 
clever.  One  had  boxed  for  the  amateur 
championship  of  Tunis.  They  would  give 
many  professional  fighters  a  run  for  the 
money.  Two  French  cavalrymen  had  a  bout 
that  resulted  in  a  knockout. 

Time  surely  does  fly:  here  it  is  nearly  eight 
months  since  the  old  Goddess  of  Liberty  dis- 
appeared into  the  distance  in  New  York  bay. 
It  does  not  seem  possible. 

The  ball  that  hit  Rockwell's  leg  just  missed 
the  bone,  so  he  is  recovering  rapidly  and  hopes 
to  be  back  with  us  soon. 

We  are  all  in  the  best  of  health  and  getting 
plenty  to  eat.  We  are  unanimous  in  wishing 
for  the  war  to  end  soon.  Those  who  clamor 
for  war  the  most  in  the  States  are  those  who 
know  nothing  about  it.  War  is  an  asinine 
waste  and  I  take  my  hat  off  to  President  Wil- 
son for  his  level  headedness.* 

*  The  above  was  the  last  letter  received ;  the  com- 
munication on  the  following  page  was  written  on  a  mili- 
tary postal  card. 


TO   THE   REAR  99 

(Place  Unknown) 
June  15,  1915. 


Dear  Dad: 


All  well.  Received  your  letter  of  May 
30,  1915.  We  were  there  all  right.  Will 
write  later.  Love  to  all. 

RUSSELL. 


The  First  Regiment  was  cited  in  the  official 
Order  of  the  Day,  as  follows : 

"The  First  Foreign  Regiment  of  the 
Second  regiment  de  Marche,  ordered  May 
9th  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel Cot  to  make  a  bayonet  charge  on  a 
strong  German  position,  went  into  the  at- 
tack, the  officers  leading  in  front  of  the 
men,  with  a  superb  gallantry,  gaining,  with 
only  brief  stops,  several  kilometres  of 
ground,  in  spite  of  an  extremely  strong  re- 
sistance of  the  enemy  and  a  violent  fire  from 
his  machine  guns." 


100         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Le  Figaro  of  Paris,  May  13th,  1915,  con- 
tains an  article  from  which  the  following  trans- 
lation is  an  extract,  under  the  heading,  "Nos 
succes  du  9  mai  dans  le  secteur,  Carency— 
Neuville." 

"The  attack  on  La  Targette,  led  by  a  di- 
vision of  the  army  corps  from  the  neighbor- 
hood, mentioned  in  the  army  order,  was  con- 
ducted with  a  remarkable  boldness  and  was 
a  complete  success. 

"The  artillery  had,  by  its  fire,  demolished 
a  large  part  of  the  barb-wire  and  other  ac- 
cessories of  the  defence.  A  certain  num- 
ber of  mitrailleuses  had  escaped  destruction, 
and  the  enemy  continued  to  hold  them. 

"At  the  first  assault  our  infantry  reached 
the  border  of  the  woods,  but  it  was  stopped 
there  by  fire  on  the  flank.  The  infantry  re- 
sumed the  attack  immediately  and  took  a 
part  of  the  trenches  at  ten  o'clock;  which  it 
held,  and  at  a  quarter  past  eleven  took  all  of 
La  Targette  and  three  hundred  and  fifty 
prisoners,  many  pieces  of  seventy-seven  and 
a  large  number  of  mitrailleuses. 

"Holding  La  Targette,  they  were  mas- 


TO   THE   REAR  101 

ters  of  the  cross-roads  of  Arras-Bethune  and 
Mont  Saint-Eloi-Neuville. 

"They  reformed  rapidly,  thanks  to  the  he- 
roic work  of  the  engineer  corps,  and  ad- 
vanced upon  Neuville. 

"This  village  presents  itself  in  the  form 
of  a  point.  It  was,  as  an  officer  expressed 
it,  *a  real  bundle  of  mitrailleuses  and  of 
lancebombs.'  The  assault  was,  however, 
made  and  about  three  o'clock  we  attacked 
the  church. 

"From  each  loopholed  house,  from  each 
cellar  organized  into  a  covered  trench,  the 
enemy  fired  on  our  men.  They  conquered, 
however,  house  by  house,  half  of  the  village, 
and  in  spite  of  all  counter-attacks  we  held 
the  captured  ground.  It  was  a  tremendous 
struggle  amidst  the  wreckage  and  smoke. 

"Every  minute  augmented  the  number  of 
prisoners.  We  saw  them  rush  out  from 
their  hiding  places,  reckless  of  safety,  stupe- 
fied by  our  bombardment,  dumbfounded  by 
our  dash,  and  in  a  moment,  towards  the 
other  side  of  the  village  some  columns  were 
detached,  and  our  cavalry  conducted  the 


102         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

prisoners  towards  the  rear,  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  population. 

"Behold  the  road  of  Bethune:  a  new  at- 
tack. The  battalions  in  the  lead  scaled  the 
slope  at  the  east  and  behind  them,  the  others 
arriving,  killed  and  despatched  all  whom 
they  encountered. 

"Our  officers  fell  in  great  numbers.  Of 
four  chiefs  of  battalions  there  was  not  more 
than  one  left.  One  of  the  colonels  is  se- 
riously wounded.  The  general  of  the  bri- 
gade who  led  in  advance  of  his  troops,  had 
his  chest  pierced  by  a  ball. 

"It  made  no  difference,  they  went  on  with 
redoubled  ardor.  The  men  came  at  a  gym- 
nastic pace,  leaped  over  the  trenches,  at- 
tacked the  crest  and  the  very  crown  of  the 
crest. 

"The  courier  started,  reached  the  tele- 
phonic post  and  sent  in  an  account.  One 
can  hardly  believe  it.  It  was  done;  more 
than  four  kilometres  gained  (two  and  a  half 
miles). 

"Never  before  in  this  war  of  a  siege  which 
has  lasted  for  seven  months,  has  a  like  suc- 
cess been  obtained  either  by  the  Germans  or 


TO   THE   REAR  103 

by  us.  A  German  colonel  was  taken  pris- 
oner at  his  post  of  command.  Behind  our 
victorious  battalions,  our  forces  gathered  up 
and  unearthed  from  their  burrows  hundreds 
of  Germans.  We  destroyed  or  captured, 
substantially,  a  whole  brigade." 


VIII 

SUPPLEMENTARY 

Battle  of  Artois — Souchez — Hill  No.  119. 

NO  communication  has  been  received  from 
Russell  Kelly  since  his  postal  card  of 
June  15th,  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  chapter. 
He  took  part  with  his  regiment  in  the  battle 
on  the  following  day,  and  since  then  has  been 
missing,  and  his  name  is  still  carried  on  the 
French  War  Office  Official  list  of  missing.  As 
the  reader  may  be  interested  in  the  subsequent 
occurrences,  the  following  facts  are  given. 

The  battle  of  Waterloo  occurred  on  June 
18,  1815,  and  as  its  centenary  approached  the 
public  expected  an  unusual  effort  would  be 
made  in  commemoration  of  that  momentous 
event. 

Whether  or  not  the  warring  powers  gave 

104 


SUPPLEMENTARY  105 

any  heed  to  this  circumstance,  is  not  known, 
but  preparations  were  made  by  the  Allies  be- 
fore that  date,  on  a  most  extensive  scale,  for 
a  formidable  effort  to  break  through  the  Ger- 
man lines  in  France. 

On  June  15th  the  soldiers  of  the  Legion 
were  each  given  one  hundred  extra  rounds  of 
ammunition;  these  they  carried  in  their  meu- 
settes  or  haversacks;  their  belts  contained  the 
regular  allowance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
rounds.  New  underclothing  and  shirts  were 
furnished  to  the  troops  that  day,  so  that  those 
who  might  be  wounded  would  be  less  liable 
to  contract  the  dreaded  tetanus.  A  special 
mass  was  celebrated  that  day  and  the  Catholic 
soldiers  attended  to  their  religious  duties. 
Many  of  the  soldiers  made  provision  for  the 
event  of  disaster.  John  Smith  left  an  enve- 
lope with  instructions  that  it  be  opened  if  he 
did  not  return  from  the  attack.  When  it  was 
opened  it  was  found  to  contain  a  statement  that 
his  real  name  was  John  Earl  Fike,  and  it  gave 
his  mother's  name  and  address,  with  a  request 


106         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

that  she  be  notified  of  his  fate.  Lawrence 
Scanlan  also  left  written  directions  for  notify- 
ing his  mother  and  Russell  Kelly  sent  the 
postal  card  given  on  page  99. 

The  extreme  northerly  end  of  the  French 
line  of  battle  was  then  at  Souchez  and  that  po- 
sition was  held  by  one  battalion  of  Zouaves, 
about  one  thousand  men ;  next  to  them  was  the 
Second  regiment  de  MarcTie  of  the  First  For- 
eign Regiment,  consisting  of  about  four  thou- 
sand men.  In  this  last  regiment  was  of  course 
our  five  Americans,  the  sixth,  Rockwell,  being 
then  in  hospital. 

An  Irish  regiment  was  on  the  extreme 
southerly  end  of  the  English  line,  and  thus 
joined  with  the  French  Zouaves. 

Pieces  of  white  muslin  were  pinned  to  the 
backs  of  many  of  the  Legionnaires  (they  ad- 
vanced without  knapsacks)  so  they  could  be 
distinguished  from  the  enemy.  This  precau- 
tion was  taken  for  the  reason  that  in  the  at- 
tack on  May  9th,  a  serious  delay  occurred  be- 
cause the  observers  attached  to  the  French  75 


SUPPLEMENTARY  107 

guns  were  unable  to  distinguish  the  French 
from  the  Germans.  A  despatch  bearer  who 
had  messages  from  the  officers  at  the  front 
stating  that  the  Legion  had  made  a  great  ad- 
vance, and  directing  that  the  range  of  the  guns 
be  changed  so  as  to  pass  over  the  French 
troops,  was  killed  and  the  messages  undeliv- 
ered. When  the  soldiers  of  the  Legion 
reached  this  line  of  range  of  their  own  guns, 
many  ran  into  the  fire,  and  the  others  were 
compelled  to  hold  back  until  another  messenger 
was  despatched. 

After  a  terrific  bombardment  of  the  Ger- 
man trenches  for  several  days,  the  French 
troops  left  their  trenches  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  June  16th,  for  the  attack. 

Ladders  were  in  the  front  line  trenches  to 
enable  the  soldiers  to  get  out  quickly ;  a  ladder 
being  provided  for  every  five  men. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  on  May  9th 
Battalion  C  led  the  advance,  followed  by  A, 
and  then  B,  but  on  June  16th  it  was  Battalion 
B,  containing  these  five  Americans,  that  was 


108         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

first  to  leave  in  its  sector.  It  faced  a  very 
severe  fire  from  machine  guns,  rifles  and  shrap- 
nel. The  men  ran  forward  in  a  line,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  about  a  yard  apart,  and  many  fell  be- 
fore the  first  line  of  German  trenches  were 
reached.  These  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
French  artillery  and  vacated  by  the  enemy,  and 
little  of  the  barbed  wide  defences  remained. 
However,  the  broken  ground  where  those 
trenches  had  been  afforded  some  slight  shelter 
and  advantage  was  taken  of  it  to  rest  and  re- 
arrange the  line. 

They  then  rushed  for  the  second  line  of 
trenches,  which  were  strongly  defended,  hav- 
ing many  machine  guns  in  action;  the  French 
lost  heavily  before  reaching  these  trenches, 
those  who  did  safely  reach  them  had  a  hand  to 
hand  fight  with  the  Germans.  It  was  here 
that  Paul  Pavelka  received  a  bayonet  wound 
in  his  leg  and  Lawrence  Scanlan  was  severely 
wounded  in  his  leg  and  foot  by  rifle  fire,  Rus- 
sell Kelly  received  what  a  companion  described 
as  "a  clean  wound  in  his  left  shoulder  that  did 


SUPPLEMENTARY  109 

not  seem  to  be  serious."  All  trace  of  John 
Smith  and  Kenneth  Weeks  was  lost  at  this 
point.  Weeks  carried  the  supply  of  hand 
grenades  for  his  section. 

But  in  spite  of  all  resistance  the  French 
captured  those  trenches,  and  pushed  on  to  the 
next,  where  they  had  another  desperate  hand 
to  hand  encounter  but  which  they  also  captured. 

This  division  of  the  French  army  then  drove 
its  way  through  Cabaret  Rouge,  which  has 
been  frequently  mentioned  in  the  despatches. 
It  is  only  a  wine  shop  on  the  road  to  Arras  and 
on  the  southern  outskirts  of  Souchez. 

In  spite  of  the  German  artillery  and  ma- 
chine gun  fire  they  continued  to  advance,  driv- 
ing the  enemy  before  them,  capturing  many, 
and  taking  Hill  No.  119  to  the  southeast  of 
Souchez.  Pavelka  and  Scanlan,  who  lay 
wounded  at  the  second  line  of  trenches,  could 
plainly  see  their  comrades,  distinguished  by  the 
pieces  of  white  muslin  on  their  backs,  fighting 
their  way,  step  by  step,  up  Hill  119. 

The  division  pushed  on  towards  Givenchy, 


110         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

which  is  about  a  mile  east  of  Souchez;  but  the 
Germans  were  able  to  attack  them  on  their  left 
flank,  and  the  German  artillery  established  a 
curtain  of  fire  and  thus  cut  off  reinforcements. 
The  rest  of  the  line  did  not  advance  as  fast  nor 
as  far  as  the  portion  that  included  this  Battal- 
ion, so  before  the  day  was  over  the  Germans 
had  surrounded  the  men  who  were  so  advanced, 
and  subjected  them  to  a  most  severe  artillery 
and  machine  gun  fire.  The  men  so  surrounded 
numbered  about  five  hundred  and  they  held 
out  until  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  when, 
with  every  man  remaining  wounded  and  ex- 
hausted from  thirst,  they  were  all  captured 
with  the  exception  of  some  few  who  were  able 
to  conceal  themselves  within  the  German  lines, 
it  having  been  since  reported  that  some  of  the 
men  avoided  capture  in  that  way. 

Every  officer  in  the  regiment  was  killed. 

The  battle  that  day  resulted  in  a  net  gain  to 
the  Allies  of  about  two  miles  in  depth  over  a 
front  of  about  two  miles ;  which  gain  was  held 


SUPPLEMENTARY  111 

for  about  six  months,  when  the  Germans  re- 
covered nearly  one  mile. 


OFFICIAL  WAR  (night)  COM- 
MUNIQUE. 

FRENCH 

Paris, 
Thursday,  June  17, 10  p.  m. 

Great  activity  along  the  entire  front  during 
the  last  two  days  is  reported  in  to-day's  des- 
patches. The  fighting  to  the  north  of  Arras 
has  assumed  an  extremely  violent  character 
since  yesterday.  Infantry  actions  have  been 
numerous  and  vigorous,  while  the  artillery  duel 
has  been  exceptionally  violent  and  uninter- 
rupted. We  have  achieved  important  gains 
which  were  almost  all  maintained  despite  fu- 
rious counter  attacks,  which  were  repeated  to- 
day with  renewed  vigor. 

Yesterday  and  to-day  we  advanced  steadily 
toward  Souchez  from  the  northwest,  the  south- 


112         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

west  and  the  west.  Further  to  the  south  we 
have  gained  a  footing  in  the  park  of  the 
Carleul  Chateau,  where  the  enemy  had  been 
making  use  of  the  moat  around  the  Chateau 
as  a  defensive  base.  We  captured  the  Souchez 
cemetery  and  gained  some  ground  on  the 
slopes  to  the  southeast  of  Souchez  (Hill  No. 
119)  following  several  brilliant  charges.  The 
results  achieved  yesterday  were  extended  to- 
day. 

After  our  infantry  had  delivered  some  ex- 
tremely vigorous  attacks,  which  were  most  ef- 
ficaciously supported  by  the  firing  of  almost 
three  hundred  thousand  shells  by  our  artillery, 
it  was  compelled  to  face,  during  the  night  of 
Wednesday,  several  violent  counter  attacks 
made  by  important  hostile  forces.  These  at- 
tacks were  repulsed  along  the  entire  front,  the 
only  point  evacuated  by  us  being  a  small  wood 
which  we  captured  yesterday  morning  south 
of  Hill  No.  119  and  which  the  enemy's  artil- 
lery made  it  impossible  for  us  to  hold. 

In  these  engagements  the  Germans  used 


SUPPLEMENTARY  113 

eleven  divisions,  which  all  suffered  extremely 
heavy  losses.  On  our  side  the  losses  were  also 
serious. 

The  morale  of  our  troops  continues  to  be 
perfect.  The  number  of  prisoners  captured 
by  us  exceeds  six  hundred,  including  more 
than  twenty  officers. 

GERMAN 

Berlin, 

Thursday,  June  17. 

The  British  and  French  continued  yester- 
day their  attempts  to  break  through  our  lines. 
North  of  La  Bassee  Canal  the  British,  over- 
powered by  Westphalians  and  Saxons,  after 
a  hand-to-hand  fight,  were  forced  to  beat  a 
speedy  retreat  into  their  positions.  South  of 
Souchez  the  French  succeeded  in  penetrating 
into  our  positions  over  a  width  of  about  600 
metres,  and  obtained  a  foothold.  Fighting 
still  continues.  At  all  other  points  they  were 
repulsed  with  sanguinary  losses. 


114         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 
FRENCH 

Paris, 
Saturday,  June  19,  10  p.  m. 

In  the  sector  to  the  north  of  Arras  we  have 
continued  our  action  and  on  several  points 
gathered  the  fruits  of  the  favorable  engage- 
ments of  the  last  few  days.  .  .  . 

We  hold  the  slopes  of  Hill  119  where  our 
troops  are  maintaining  themselves,  clinging  to 
the  ground  beyond  the  last  German  trenches, 
notwithstanding  counter  attacks  by  the  enemy. 
To  the  south  of  these  slopes  our  front  has 
been  carried  forward  to  the  northeast  of  the 
Labyrinth. 

GERMAN 

Berlin, 

Saturday,  3  p.  m. 

Several  French  attacks  on  the  Lorette  Hills, 
on  both  sides  of  Neuville  and  northeast  of  Ar- 
ras broke  down.  We  cleared  a  few  trench 
sections  which  we  had  previously  lost,  of  all 
enemies. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  115 

Account   of   battle    from   the   New    York 
American,  August  7,  1915. 

THREE    AMERICANS    IN    LEGION    CAPTURED 


Orderly  Describes  Brilliant  Charge  Against 
Germans  by  Squad  from  U.  S.  in  French 
Ranks 

By  International  News  Service 

Paris,  August  6. 

It  now  seems  certain  the  three  Americans  of 
the  famous  First  Regiment  of  the  Foreign 
Legion  who  have  been  missing  since  the  big 
fight  north  of  Arras  on  June  16th  are  prison- 
ers in  Germany.  They  are  Kenneth  Weeks, 
Russell  Kelly,  and  John  Smith. 

The  news  was  brought  to  Paris  by  an  or- 
derly of  the  regiment's  colonel,  who,  while  lying 
in  the  field  of  battle  with  a  shattered  leg,  was 
picked  up  by  the  German  Red  Cross.  His  leg 
was  amputated  in  a  field  hospital  and  he  was 
recently  repatriated. 

According  to  the  orderly,  Battalion  B,  of 


116         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

the  Legion  in  which  these  Americans  were 
fighting  on  June  16th,  broke  far  through  the 
German  lines  left  of  Cabaret  Rouge.  The 
Germans  reformed  on  both  sides,  attacking  in 
force,  and  by  the  curtain  of  shells  and  machine- 
gun  fire  made  reinforcements  or  retreat  im- 
possible. 

The  Legionnaires  dug  in  and  throughout  the 
night  of  the  16th  until  the  afternoon  follow- 
ing resisted  all  attacks.  Then,  covered  with 
wounds  and  parched  with  thirst,  the  survivors 
surrendered. 

The  American  squad  when  the  first  regi- 
ment moved  north  from  the  Champagne  re- 
gion early  in  May  included  Kenneth  Weeks, 
of  New  Bedford;  Paul  Rockwell,  of  Atlanta; 
Paul  Pavelka,  of  Madison,  Conn.;  Russell 
Kelly,  of  New  York;  Frank  Musgrave,  of 
New  Orleans ;  Jack  Janz,  of  Boston ;  Lawrence 
Scanlan,  of  Cedarhurst,  L.  I.,  John 
Smith,  of  Los  Angeles;  Neamorin,  of  Cal- 
cutta, a  graduate  of  Oxford  and  a  frequent 
visitor  to  America,  and  Madji  Zennis,  of 


SUPPLEMENTARY  117 

Constantinople,  formerly  an  interpreter  for  a 
New  York  importing  house. 

The  squad  was  led  by  Corporal  Didier,  a 
gigantic  Moor.  All  were  volunteers  for  the 
war  except  Janz.  Janz  was  the  only  Amer- 
ican in  the  entire  Legion  that  had  seen  African 
service,  having  been  seven  years  in  Morocco. 

He  was  shot  through  the  forehead  while 
looking  out  of  a  trench  toward  the  German 
lines  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  regiment 
in  the  north. 

During  the  fighting  around  La  Targette  and 
Neuville-St.  Vaast  on  May  9th  Janz  was  shot 
through  the  chest  with  a  rifle  ball.  While  he 
lay  on  the  battlefield  a  shell  exploded  near  him 
and  badly  lacerated  his  hips.  Later  he  was 
carried  off  the  field  to  a  hospital. 

ONLY  700  OF  4,000  LEFT 

After  the  fighting  on  May  9th,  10th  and 
llth  the  Legion  was  sent  to  the  rear  for  re- 
organization. Only  700  of  the  4,000  who  had 
gone  into  action  answered  the  roll  call. 


118         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

In  the  attack  of  June  16th,  which  preceded 
by  a  terrific  thirty-six-hour  bombardment  of 
the  German  lines,  the  legion  occupied  a  posi- 
tion near  Souchez  and  Cabaret  Rouge. 

The  first  line  of  German  trenches  was  liter- 
ally knocked  to  pieces  by  shell  fire  and  easily 
taken.  The  advance  on  the  second  line  was 
met  by  a  stream  of  lead  from  rifles  and  ma- 
chine guns.  Whole  sections  of  the  attacking 
party  were  mowed  down.  Corporal  Didier  fell, 
his  left  arm  literally  shot  off.  Zennis's  lower 
jaw  was  torn  away.  Neamorin  fell  with  a  ball 
through  his  abdomen. 

Pavelka  was  the  first  of  the  American  squad 
to  reach  the  second  line.  He  just  got  to  the 
edge  of  a  trench  held  by  Bavarians  when  he 
was  stabbed  in  the  leg  with  a  bayonet. 

GERMANS  THROW  DOWN  ARMS 

By  then  the  German  trenches  were  filled 
with  a  yelling  mass  of  Legionnaires  zouaves 
and  tirailleurs.  Such  of  the  Germans  as  could 
climbed  out  of  the  trenches  and  threw  down 


SUPPLEMENTARY  119 

their  arms.  They  ran  for  the  rear,  the  French 
in  hot  pursuit. 

Pavelka  took  shelter  in  a  German  trench  to 
bandage  his  wound.  He  was  joined  there  by 
Kelly,  who  had  been  hit  in  the  shoulder,  and 
Smith  with  a  ball  through  his  leg. 

After  a  rest  Pavelka  suggested  to  his  com- 
rades that  they  crawl  to  the  rear.  Kelly  and 
Smith  were  too  weak.  Pavelka  made  his  way 
alone  to  a  first  aid  ambulance. 

The  only  American  positively  known  to  have 
been  killed  June  16th  was  Edwin  Hall,  of 
Chicago,  who  arrived  at  the  front  a  few  days 
before  the  battle  and  was  placed  in  the  machine 
gun  section.  It  was  his  first  time  under  fire 
and  he  exhibited  great  coolness  and  bravery. 
Hall's  squad  rushed  up  the  machine  guns  to 
hold  a  captured  position.  The  Germans 
counter  attacked  and  killed  the  entire  squad. 


IX 


EPILOGUE 

f  T  may  interest  the  reader  to  know  how  the 
-**  six  Americans  in  the  15th  escouade  or 
squad  have  since  fared,  so  the  following  brief 
statement  is  given. 

Lawrence  Scanlan,  called  Larney  in  the  nar- 
rative, was  severely  wounded  in  his  leg  and 
foot  June  16th.  It  was  not  until  the  follow- 
ing December  that  the  last  of  the  pieces  of 
bullets  were  extracted  from  his  leg.  They 
were  forwarded  to  his  family  near  New  York. 

The  wounds  were  so  deep  that  in  November, 
1916,  he  was  still  an  invalid,  being  in  a  hos- 
pital established  by  an  American,  Mrs.  Fitz- 
gerald, at  Passy-par-Veron,  France.  In  the 
summer  of  1916  he  was  awarded  the  Croicc  de 

Guerre  or  Military  Cross,  the  citation  stat- 

120 


EPILOGUE  121 

ing  that  it  was  awarded  because  he  was  a  good 
and  brave  soldier  and  had  been  badly  wounded. 
It  was  attached  while  he  stood,  aided  by 
crutches.  In  writing  of  the  ceremony  he 
stated,  "I  could  not  help  thinking  as  I  stood 
there  that  Russell  should  be  standing  beside 
me,  and  that  we  should  be  receiving  our  decora- 
tions together." 

Paul  Pavelka  referred  to  in  the  letters  as  the 
"skipper,"  recovered  from  the  bayonet  wound 
he  received  June  16th,  and  returned  to  the 
front.  He  was  in  many  severe  engagements, 
and  early  in  the  year  1916  was  transferred  to 
the  All- American  aviation  section.  He  ren- 
dered such  brave  service  in  this  branch  of  the 
army  around  Verdun  that  he  was  made  ser- 
geant in  September,  1916,  and  the  following 
month  was  awarded  the  Croicc  de  Guerre  with 
its  green  and  red  ribbon. 

Kniffin  Yates  Rockwell,  who  was  in  a  hos- 
pital June  16th,  suffering  from  the  wound  re- 
ceived May  9th,  recovered  and  rejoined  the  Le- 
gion at  the  front.  He  was  transferred  to  the 


122         KELLY   OF  THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

All-American  aviation  section,  and  was  so 
daring  and  successful  that  he  became  known 
as  the  Ace.  General  Joff  re,  in  person,  pinned 
upon  him  the  Medaille  Militaire  with  its 
yellow  ribbon,  for  bringing  down  a  Prussian 
two-seat  aeroplane  near  Hartmannsweiller- 
kopf,  in  May,  1916.  On  September  9th, 
1916,  he  was  officially  credited  with  having 
brought  down  four  Prussian  aeroplanes.  He 
was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy.  He  was  also 
awarded  the  Croix  de  Guerre. 

On  September  24th,  1916,  he  was  shot  down 
while  defending  a  flotilla  of  bomb-dropping 
aeroplanes  returning  to  the  Verdun  lines  from 
an  expedition  into  territories  held  by  the  Prus- 
sians. He  suffered  his  fatal  wound  while 
above  the  town  of  Thann,  and  dropped  into 
Alsatian  territory,  retaken  from  the  Prussians. 
This  was  near  the  spot  where  he  shot  down  his 
first  adversary  about  April,  1916.  He  was  on 
his  way  back  to  the  air  squadron's  base  where 
he  would  have  been  informed  that  he  had  been 


EPILOGUE  123 

promoted  from  first  sergeant  to  lieutenant. 
He  was  buried  with  full  military  honors,  a 
regiment  of  French  territorials  and  a  battalion 
of  Alpine  chasseurs  were  the  guard  of  honor. 

Lieutenant  Rockwell  was  from  Atlanta, 
Georgia.  He  had  been  a  cadet  at  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  two  classes  ahead  of  Rus- 
sell Kelly.  Both  were  members  of  the  Kappa 
Alpha  fraternity. 

Kenneth  Weeks  was  reported  as  missing  un- 
til November  25th,  1915,  when  his  body  was 
found  between  the  lines  of  battle.  It  was 
learned  that  he  had  been  killed  June  16th,  or 
17th,  and  that  his  body  had  lain  there  for  five 
months.  He  was  buried  in  the  military  ceme- 
tery at  Pylones  near  Mont  St.  Eloi. 

He  was  from  Boston,  and  had  attended  Har- 
vard. He  was  an  author  of  several  books  and 
possessed  unusual  literary  ability. 

The  first  reference  to  him  in  the  above  let- 
ters is  in  one  from  Verzenay  in  March,  1915, 
it  states: 


124         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

"Another  American  was  put  in  our  squad; 
he  is  from  Boston,  has  been  in  France  five 
years,  in  the  Legion  five  months  and  in  the 
trenches  three  months.  He  is  a  fine  fel- 
low." 

John  Earl  Fike  of  Wooster,  Ohio,  enlisted 
under  the  name  of  his  grandfather,  Captain 
John  Smith,  who  had  rendered  distinguished 
services  in  our  civil  war.  He  and  Russell 
Kelly  disappeared  during  the  battle,  and  have 
not  been  since  heard  from. 

Many  notices  have  been  in  the  newspapers, 
tending  to  explain  their  absence,  all  of  which 
on  investigation  proved  incorrect. 

The  only  authoritative  information  regard- 
ing either  of  them  was  that  "Russell  Kelly  was 
seen  in  the  second  line  of  German  trenches 
with  a  clean  wound  in  his  left  shoulder  that  did 
not  seem  serious." 

After  sometime  the  names  of  these  two  were 
placed  on  the  official  list  of  "missing"  and  the 
French  Minister  of  War  notified  their  families 
that  their  names  would  be  carried  on  that  list 


JOHN   EARL  FIKE 


EPILOGUE  125 

until  a  search  could  be  made  in  the  internment 
camps  of  Germany. 

The  State  Department  at  Washington  had 
special  inquiries  made  by  the  American  am- 
bassador at  Berlin,  and  on  January  3d,  1916, 
Ambassador  Gerard  sent  word  from  Berlin 
that  their  names  were  not  reported  among  the 
prisoners  of  war  in  Germany. 

The  German  War  Office,  the  Imperial  For- 
eign Office,  the  German  Red  Cross,  as  well  as 
the  International  Red  Cross  at  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  reported  that  their  names  were 
not  registered  on  any  list  in  their  possession. 

On  January  16th  the  New  York  Sun  con- 
tained the  following  cable: 

"Paris,  January  15th.  Official  news 
reached  the  Lyon  depot  to-day  that  Ken- 
neth Weeks  of  Boston  was  killed  on  June 
17th  last  year  near  Givenchy. 

"Official  announcement  also  is  made  that 
John  Earl  Fike  of  Wooster,  Ohio,  was  killed 
the  same  day.  The  death  of  Henry  Farns- 
worth,  another  American  in  the  Foreign 


126         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

Legion,  reported  on  October  16th  last,  is 
officially  confirmed." 

On  January  17th  all  the  New  York  dailies 
contained  the  following  cable: 

"Paris,  January  16th.  Five  Americans 
attached  to  the  Foreign  Legion,  whose 
names  were  included  in  the  list  of  casualties 
at  Givenchy  on  June  17th,  are  now  officially 
reported  as  having  been  killed  in  action. 
They  were  Russell  Kelly  of  New  York, 
Harman  Edwin  Hall  of  Chicago,  John  Earl 
Fike  of  Wooster,  Ohio,  and  Kenneth  Weeks 
and  Henry  Farnsworth  both  of  Boston." 

In  view  of  the  discrepancy  between  these 
despatches,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  seven 
months  elapsed  between  the  disappearance  of 
Kelly  and  Fike  and  the  publication  of  these 
so-called  official  notices,  doubt  was  raised  as  to 
their  authenticity,  and  the  death  of  these  two 
will  not  be  conceded  until  the  facts  are  dis- 
closed upon  which  the  conclusion  of  death  is 
based.  Besides,  it  is  now  known  that  the 


EPILOGUE  127 

French  War  Office  has  not  transferred  the  two 
names  to  the  official  list  of  dead. 

The  uncertainty  of  his  death  has  been  in- 
creased in  the  case  of  Russell  Kelly,  by  in- 
formation given  by  an  English  lady.  She 
communicated  with  his  family,  and  stated  that 
in  September  of  1915  she  received  a  letter  from 
a  relative  in  which  he  said  he  and  two  other 
English  soldiers  together  with  a  French  sol- 
dier, had  been  in  hiding  since  the  middle  of  the 
previous  June,  within  the  German  lines,  east 
of  Souchez;  and  that  French  peasants  had  sup- 
plied them  with  clothing  and  food.  It  stated 
that  the  French  soldier  was  an  American 
named  Kelly,  and  that  he  was  badly  wounded 
in  the  head.  The  letter  had  been  surrepti- 
tiously passed  through  the  lines. 

The  high  character  of  the  English  lady,  as 
well  as  many  corroborating  circumstances,  have 
convinced  the  family  of  Russell  Kelly  of  the 
truth  of  the  statements;  and  there  being  no 
other  American  in  the  Foreign  Legion  named 


128         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Kelly,  they  believe  it  refers  to  him,  and  that  he 
is  still  alive. 

An  adjutant  of  the  regiment  sent  word,  in 
January,  1916,  to  Lyon,  that  he  had  seen  Rus- 
sell Kelly  and  two  other  prisoners  in  Belgium. 
He  reported  that  Kelly  had  lost  one  of  his  legs 
and  that  he  was  careful  not  to  disclose  his 
American  citizenship.  The  circumstances  con- 
nected with  this  information  show  it  to  be  con- 
sistent with  the  story  of  his  being  in  hiding  the 
previous  September. 

These  rumors  appear  to  be  true  but  they 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  verified. 

It  is  known  that  the  French  prisoners  in 
Belgium  and  northern  France  are  not  allowed 
to  communicate  in  any  way  with  the  outside 
world,  although  prisoners  in  Germany  are  al- 
lowed to  send  and  receive  communications 
from  relatives  and  friends. 

It  has  been  learned  that  these  six  Americans 
after  receiving  the  warning  of  the  opposition 
of  Germany  to  Foreign  Legionnaires  who 
were  not  citizens  of  a  country  at  war  with  Ger- 


EPILOGUE 


129 


many,  discussed  plans  to  be  followed  in  the 
event  of  being  taken  prisoners. 

They  determined,  if  captured,  to  destroy  all 
regimental  marks  on  their  uniforms,  to  throw 
away  their  army-books,  and  to  assume  fic- 
titious names. 

CHRONOLOGICAL  MILITARY  REC- 
ORD OF  RUSSELL  A.  KELLY 
1914 
November    3,  left  New  York  on  steamship 

Orcadian. 

19,  reached  Pauillac,  France. 
21,  Saturday,     docked     at     Bor- 
deaux. 

23,  applied  at  recruiting  station. 

24,  enlisted  in  the  Foreign  Legion. 
26,  began  military  training  at  De- 
pot de  Lyon. 


1915 

February 

}> 

March 


6,  left  barracks  for  the  front. 

8,  arrived  at  Bouzy,  near  the 
front. 

8,  left  Bouzy  and  same  day  ar- 
rived at  Verzenay  and  en- 
tered first  line  trenches. 


130         KELLY   OF   THE    FOREIGN    LEGION 
1915 

April      24,  left  Verzenay  for  region  north 
of  Arras. 

28,  reached    Aubigny;    again    en- 

tered first  line  trenches. 
May          9,  Sunday,  in  the  attack  on  La 
Targette    and    Neuville    St. 
Vaast. 

10,  battle  continued. 

11,  relieved  from  the  captured  po- 

sition and  returned  with  regi- 
ment to  rear  for  reorganiza- 
tion. 

29,  reentered  first  line  trenches. 
June       16,  in     the     attack     on     Cabaret 

Rouge  near  Souchez  and  at 
the  taking  of  Hill  No.  119. 
18,  reported  as  missing. 

1917 

May  Still  missing. 

Is  this  military  record,  like  the  record  of 
many  another  Legionary,  forever  closed;  and 
does  that  youthful 

"Heart  that  once  beat  high  for  praise 
Now  feel  that  pulse  no  more?" 


LA  LEGION  ETRANGERE 

ALL  the  countries  of  the  old  world  have 
"crack"  military  organizations  famous 
for  deeds  of  valor,  many  of  which  came  into 
existence  long  before  the  time  of  our  revolu- 
tionary war.  In  the  United  States,  most  large 
cities  have  at  least  one  regiment  with  a  record 
of  which  the  civilians  as  well  as  the  soldiers 
are  justly  proud.  But  all  their  histories  and 
achievements  pale  before  the  extraordinary 
record,  ancient  formation  and  remarkable 
membership  of  France's  famous  corps,  la 
Legion  etrangere.  That  body  is  easily  the 
most  ancient,  unique  and  widest  known  mili- 
tary organization  in  the  world. 

Here  is  a  Legion  numbering,  before  this 
war,  eight  thousand  men,  all  of  whom,  except 

131 


132         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

the  officers,  being  aliens  of  the  country  for 
which  they  give  up  their  lives.  Very  few  of 
them  are  able  to  understand  the  language  of 
the  country,  and  very  few  become  citizens  of 
the  country  even  after  enlistment  in  its  army. 

They  are  not  requested  to  enlist  and  when 
they  do  apply  for  admission  they  are  told  of 
the  hardships  to  be  encountered.  If  the  ap- 
plicant still  insists  he  must  wait  until  the  fol- 
~  lowing  day  before  his  application  is  considered. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  many 
enlisted,  no  doubt,  from  love  of  France ;  but  it 
is  difficult  to  understand  how  this  large  mem- 
bership was  maintained  prior  to  the  war. 

None  enlisted  for  protection  of  their  homes 
or  families.  Nor  for  glory  as  scarcely  any 
Legionary  has  even  become  a  general.  Not 
for  money;  the  pay  is  one  cent  a  day,  a  wage 
the  meanest  outcast  in  the  street  would  spurn 
with  scorn.  Not  for  comradeship;  the  ranks 
being  recruited  from  the  whole  world  are  too 
cosmopolitan  for  lasting  friendships. 

Not  for  an  easy  life;  for  they  were  assigned, 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  133 

before  this  war,  to  duty  in  the  unhealthy  waste 

places  of  Africa  and  Asia. 

•*•  —\ 

Answers  to  this  riddle  would  be  almost  as 
diversified  as  the  volunteers  are  numerous. 

No  weakling  can  be  accepted,  for  it  takes  a 
good  physique  to  stand  the  training  necessary 
to  develop  a  man  to  fight  for  his  life  and  the 
country.  For  example  it  is  part  of  the  rour 
tine  of  the  Legion  for  each  company  to  march 
once  a  week,  in  full  marching  equipment, 
twenty-eight  miles  within  ten  hours.  ...,-. 

Historians  cannot  agree  as  to  when  this 
Legion  was  first  organized,  but  it  is  conceded 
that  it  was  in  existence  in  the  time  of  Clovis 

**m*S***~*~^* 

who  stands  out  in  history  as  the  founder  of  a 
new  France,  and  with  whose  rule  French  his- 
tory begins.  He  employed  this  very  organiza- 
tion in  the  year  486  when  he  defeated  the  last 
of  the  Roman  power  in  northern  Gaul,  at  Sois- 
sons,  which  city  is  still  in  existence  and  stands 
less  than  ten  miles  from  the  place  where  their 
equally  courageous  successors  gave  up  their 
lives  for  that  same  France,  but  now  a  glorious 


I 


i 


134         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

republic,  fourteen  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
years  later. 

/  In  our  country  we  consider  an  institution 
that  is  one  hundred  years  old  as  ancient,  our 
government  itself  being  in  existence  less  than 
a  century  and  a  half,  yet  here  is  an  organiza- 
tion that  when  Columbus  discovered  America, 
was  a  thousand  years  old. 

Mercenaries,  or  troops  who  serve  alien  coun- 
tries for  pay,  were  used  from  the  very  earliest 
times.  Thirteen  thousand  Greeks  fought  in 
the  year  401  B.  C.  under  Cyrus,  the  Persian, 
against  his  brother  Artaxerxes;  and  even  the' 
all  powerful  Romans  often  availed  themselves 
of  the  services  of  foreign  soldiers. 

V. 

The  French  always  employed  large  num- 
bers of  mercenaries,  and  in  the  year  886  their 
King,  Charles  le  Gros  had  a  bodyguard  of  for- 
eigners: an  example  followed  by  St.  Louis  in 
the  year  1226.  In  the  protracted  wars  be- 
tween France  and  England  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  these  mercenaries 
formed  the  major  part  of  both  armies. 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  135 

• 

The  last  mercenaries  used  by  England  were 
^  I    twenty-two  thousand  Hessians  hired  from  the 
landgrave  Frederick  II  of  Hesse-Casse,  Prus- 
sia, and  for  whom  they  paid  about  £3,191,000, 
or  $16,000,000,  to  assist  in  the  war  against  the 
American   colonies.     These  were  the  troops 
that   Washington   so   decisively   defeated   at 
v  Trenton  on  Christmas  night,  1776. 

The  Foreign  Legion  continued  under  all  the 
French  rulers,  and  Napoleon  frequently  ac-_ 
knowledged  their  great  worth  to  him. 

After  the  Napoleonic  wars  the  Legion  was 
known  as  The  Royal  Foreign  Legion.  In 
1831  a  new  law  was  enacted  reorganizing  the 
Legion  and  establishing  its  headquarters  in 
Algeria.  In  1835  the  Legion  was  the  subject 
of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  transactions  in 
history;  it  was  sold  by  King  Louis  Philippe  to 
Queen  Maria  Christina  of  Spain  for  a  sum 
equal  to  about  one  hundred  and  seventeen"" 
thousand  dollars,  being  the  estimated  value  of 
its  arms,  uniforms  and  equipment. 

The  Legion  proceeded  to  Spain  landing  at 


136         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

Tarragona,  four  thousand  strong;  it  fought 
valiantly  for  four  years  in  the  first  Carlist  war, 
and  when  that  war  ended  in  the  early  part  of 
1839  only  five  hundred  Legionnaires  survived. 

Within  a  few  weeks  after  the  old  Legion 
landed  in  Spain,  a  new  Legion  was  organized 
by  France  and  sent  to  Algeria,  where  it  did 
most  effective  work. 

In  the  Crimea  war  the  Legion  was  part  of 
Canrobert's  division  at  the  battle  of  the  Alma ; 
and  during  the  siege  of  Sevastopol  it  was  re- 
peatedly mentioned  in  reports  for  its  brave  and 
successful  efforts.  In  this  campaign  the 
Legion  lost  eighteen  hundred  officers  and  men, 
and  as  a  reward  for  their  gallantry  the  Em- 
peror gave  the  Legionnaires  the  right  to  be- 
come French  citizens  should  they  desire  to. 

The  Legion  was  part  of  Maximilian's  forces 
in  Mexico  and  on  April  30th,  1863,  near  the 
village  of  Camaron,  a  detachment  of  three  of- 
ficers and  sixty-five  Legionnaires  held  at  bay 
two  thousand  Mexican  cavalry  for  ten  hours, 
when  the  survivors  numbering  only  twenty 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  137 

were  captured.  As  a  reward  the  word  "Cam- 
aron"  is  inscribed  on  the  colors  of  the  First 
Regiment. 

Four  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
officers  and  men  of  the  Legion  died  in  Mexico. 

In  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870  the 
Legion  performed  remarkable  services  as  a 
rear  guard,  to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  French 
army. 

The  Legion  in  time  of  peace  consists  of  two 
regiments,  the  Premier  or  First,  and  Deuocieme 
or  Second,  they  being  kept  separateanoHis^ 
tinct.  The  headquarters  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment  is  at  Sidi-B el- Abbes  which  is  in  the  north- 
western part  of  Algeria,  forty-eight  miles  in- 
land by  rail  from  Oran,  a  port  on  the  Mediter-  ^ 
ranean.  The  headquarters  of  the  Second  Regi- 
ment is  at  Saida,  also  in  Algeria. 

The  First  Regiment  has  the  great  distinction 
of  having  had  its  flag  decorated  with  the  Cross 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  only  ten  regiments  of 
the  three  hundred  and  odd  composing  all 
branches  of  the  French  army  having  this  great 


138         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

honor.     It  is  the  boast  of  its  soldiers  that  "the 
Legion  of  Honor  dwells  with  us." 

This  regiment's  flag  carries  the  motto 

"Honneur  et  Discipline"; 

the  flags  in  the  other  regiments  of  the  French 
army  bear  the  motto 

"Honneur  et  Patrie." 

So  these  wanderers  from  all  countries,  after 
enlistment  are  without  a  country. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  these 
two  regiments  were  mobilized,  and  there  be- 
ing a  large  number  of  volunteers,  each  regi- 
ment was  divided  into  four  regiments  and 
designated  as  regiments  de  Marchey  or  march- 
ing regiments.  Each  regiment  de  Marche 
was  divided  into  four  battalions,  being  known 
as  A,  B,  C  and  D;  a  battalion  consisted  of 
four  companies;  each  company  of  four  sec- 
tions; each  section  of  four  squads,  and  there 
were  sixteen  men  to  a  squad.  This  arrange- 
ient  accounts  for  four  thousand  and  ninety- 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  139 

six  men,  and  as  there  were  additional  officers 
and  attaches,  a  full  Regiment  de  Marche  was 
frequently  composed  of  as  many  as  four  thou- 
\  sand  four  hundred  men. 

The  four  regiments  de  Marche  of  the  First 
Regiment  etrangere  were,  therefore,  about 
seventeen  thousand  strong. 

The  Second  Regiment  etrangere  was,  in  the 
same  way,  divided  into  four  regiments  de 
Marche,  and  was  of  the  same  numerical 
strength  as  the  First  Regiment  etrangere. 
Hence,  the  Foreign  Legion  in  April  and  May, 
1915,  when  its  ranks  were  full,  consisted  of 
about  thirty-four  thousand  troops. 

The  First  Regiment  de  Marche  of  the  First 
Regiment  etrangere  was  composed  mostly  of 
Garibaldians,  the  second  of  Swedes,  Spaniards, 
Russians,  Canadians,  English,  Americans,  and 
others,  while  the  third  and  fourth  were  mostly 
Greeks. 

The  designation  of  Russell  A.  Kelly  was  as 
follows: 


140         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

Soldat  KELLY,  Russell.    No.  24641 

1  Regiment  etrangere 

2  Regiment  de  Marche 
Battalion  B 

2  Compagnie 
4  Section 
15  Escouade 

The  Legionnaires  who  survived  the  battle  of 
June  16th,  1915,  being  very  few  in  number, 
were  assigned  some  weeks  later  to  the  Second 
foreign  regiment,  then  located  in  the  Cham- 
pagne district,  to  the  east  of  Rheims. 

On  September  25th,  that  regiment  took 
part  in  a  very  severe  attack  on  the  German 
lines  between  Souain  and  Perthes-le-Hurlus, 
about  twenty-seven  miles  from  Rheims.  This 
attack  continued  on  the  26th,  27th  and  28th 
and  was  entirely  successful,  for  they  finally 
captured  the  redoubt  of  Bois  Sabot,  but  at  the 
cost  of  more  than  half  of  the  regiment.  This 
engagement  is  now  designated  as  the  battle  of 
Champagne,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  most 
important  battles  of  the  war. 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  141 

The  Legion,  after  being  recruited  and  gen- 
erally strengthened,  next  took  part  in  the  very 
severe  fighting  in  December  at  Hartmanns- 
weilerkopf  in  the  Vosges. 

It  did  exceptional  work  in  the  severe  battles 
around  Verdun  in  February  and  March.  The 
following  despatch  was  sent  from  Paris  March 
7th,  1916: 

"The  unanimous  French  military  opinion 
is  that  the  recapture  of  Douaumont  by  the 
French  infantry  line,  the  Foreign  Legion 
and  chasseurs,  on  Feb.  26th,  was  one  of  the 
finest  feats  in  military  annals  and  equal  to 
Gen.  Gallieni's  famous  charge  at  Sedan  in 
1870." 

In  the  summer  of  1916  the  French  govern- 
ment revived  the  ancient  Fourragere  decora- 
tion; this  consists  of  a  braided  cord  about  34 
inches  long,  terminating  in  an  aiguillette;  one 
end  is  fastened  on  the  soldier's  left  shoulder, 
and  then  extended  under  his  left  arm  and  fas- 
tened on  his  left  breast  so  that  the  aiguillette 
hangs  below  this  second  fastening. 


142         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN   LEGION 

It  is  not  awarded  for  individual  merit,  but 
is  conferred  on  a  military  unit,  as  a  section, 
company,  battalion,  or  sometimes  an  entire 
regiment;  it  is  a  reward  for  two  distinct  cita- 
tions for  unusual  bravery  or  heroism. 

Almost  the  first  award  made  was  to  the  en- 
tire Second  Regiment  de  Mar  die  of  the  First 
Foreign  Regiment.  The  two  citations  en- 
titling the  regiment  to  this  revived  decoration 
were,  first,  for  its  extraordinary  work  during 
the  battle  of  Artois,  which  began  May  9th  and 
ended  June  19th,  1915 ;  and  second,  for  equally 
meritorious  and  successful  action  during  the 
battle  of  Champagne,  which  took  place  from 
September  20th  to  October  17th,  1915. 

For  several  years  prior  to  the  present  war, 
the  Germans  very  bitterly  attacked  the  French 
Foreign  Legion  by  articles  in  their  newspapers 
and  magazines,  as  well  as  pictures  in  their  mov- 
ing picture  shows  and  songs  in  their  cafe  con- 
certs. One  very  violent  attack  was  a  play 
entitled,  "The  Hypocrite,"  which  was  first 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  143 

produced  February  24th,  1914,  at  the  Kunstler 
Theatre,  Berlin. 

In  a  ray  of  green  light  a  legionary  advanced 
toward  the  front  of  the  stage  with  a  sign  in- 
scribed- "We  are  the  legionnaires  of  Africa" 
written  in  French;  it  continued  in  German, 
"All  that  you  behold  here  is  strictly  true;  we 
show  you  what  we  suffer  and  how  we  die." 

The  play  was  received  with  great  applause, 
although  the  critic  of  the  Berliner  Tageblatt 
had  the  fairness  to  write,  "This  drama  of  the 
Legion  is  a  sluggish  and  untimely  melody  of 
the  boulevard." 

Germany's  arguments  against  the  Legion 
were  summarized  in  the  Spring  of  1914  as 
follows,  viz.: 

FIRST.  They  deny  the  right  of  a  modern 
state  to  have  recourse  for  its  defence  to  the 
services  of  foreign  subjects  and  they  say  they 
have  been  confirmed  in  this  by  the  fact  that  all 
states,  except  France,  have  successively  re- 
nounced the  employment  of  foreign  soldiers. 

SECOND.     That  the  contract  on  enlistment 


144         KELLY   OF   THE   FOREIGN    LEGION 

is  harsh  as  the  duration  of  the  services  is  too 
long,  the  pay  is  insufficient  and  the  service 
imposed  is  excessive. 

THIRD.  That  France  takes  advantage  of 
the  wretchedness  of  the  applicants  and  secures 
their  enlistment  while  they  are  in  ignorance  of 
the  severity  of  the  service. 

FOURTH.  That  recruiting  is  carried  on  by 
crimps  who  abuse  their  victims  by  getting 
them  drunk  arid  by  false  promises,  and  it  re- 
sults in  forming  a  scandalous  mixture  of  starv- 
ing men,  adventurers  and  bandits,  devoted  to 
drunkenness  and  the  most  infamous  morals. 

FIFTH.  That  it  is  applicable  to  minors,  re- 
cruits being  taken  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years. 

SIXTH.  That  Germany  has,  more  than  any 
other  country,  the  right  to  occupy  itself  with 
that  which  is  going  on  in  the  Legion,  by  reason 
of  the  great  number  of  its  subjects  who  serve 
there. 

Mr.  Gaston  Moch  issued  a  book  in  Paris  in 
1914,  before  the  war,  entitled  "The  Question 
of  the  Foreign  Legion,"  in  which  he  fully  dis- 


LA   LEGION   ETRANGERE  145 

cusses  these  arguments  from  the  French  side. 
The  Foreign  Legion  is,  therefore,  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  last  of  the  mercenaries,  a  con- 
necting link  between  the  present  day  and  the 
days  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 


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